Mind Games
by wolfsoul
Summary: An incident allows Shinji to answer his question of what goes on inside Asuka's head, by getting a much closer look than he ever could have bargained for. Let the games begin!
1. Part First

  
  


Deep within the bowels of Wisconsin, during the hours of the morning/night that even the Almighty doesn't know about yet, a young man sits before a computer screen. The man watches the screen intently, and after some time passes, a twisted smile/smirk touches his lips.

"At long last, it shall no longer be a world according to Anno," he says in quiet voice, "From now on, it shall be a world according to **_ME_**."

The young man cackles madly for several seconds, but soon begins choking on some dust that had flown into his mouth. Coughing, he fights to regain the drama of situation, but finds it has completely fled. 

"Right then. Time to go to work..."he sighs, and begins typing away at the keyboard in front of him, eyes transfixed on the window to the world he is recreating.

  
  


***Mind*Games***

  
  


Part First

  
  


Thunder rolled through the empty streets of Tokyo-3, while bursts lightning shortly illuminated the otherwise dark skies. A savage storm raged over the fortress city, the worst one to hit it since its construction. The wrath of the storm, however, was meek compared to the wrath of the now very angry Asuka Langley Sorhyu.

"What do you mean we have to _walk_ home?!?!!" the redheaded pilot of Unit 02 exploded over the now cowering form of Shinji Ikari.

"Misato... working... at Nerv..." Shinji stammered helplessly.

"And now we have to walk all the way home... IN THIS?" the fireball of a fourteen year-old girl shouted and pointed at the window, causing Shinji to flinch.

"Sorry..." Shinji stammered, which promptly caused what had become a rather familiar reaction from Asuka.

"What are you APOLOGIZING FOR?!?!?" Asuka shouted ferociously changing the topic to one of the things she found most annoying about poor Shinji.

Shinji eeped as he realized his memory lapse. "Dumkopf! You're impossible!" Asuka growled as she turned her back to him and started walking towards the classroom door.

Shinji sighed, but any relief was short-lived as Asuka spun around to face him again "Well?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

"W-What?" Shinji asked.

"Aren't you coming?" Asuka asked.. Shinji muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he grabbed his stuff from his desk. "What was that, Third Child? I didn't quite hear you."

Shinji met her gaze evenly, strangely unwavering. "I was merely asking myself why you suddenly want me to walk home with you."

Shinji noticed something change in Asuka's eyes, but he couldn't tell what it was though. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, sounding indignant.

His eyes remained locked with hers. "Well, you've never really seemed to _want_ me to walk home with you all that much lately...that's all" Asuka's eyes changed again, and this time Shinji recognized the emotion which flashed behind them: anger. Reacting quickly, hoping to escape both her anger and physical harm, he struggled to find something else to say.

Too late. "Don't go getting any funny ideas, idiot." Asuka said, her eyes still flashing dangerously, but for some reason Shinji still refused to look away. Instead he gave her a weak smile.

"I'd never dream of it, Asuka." he said. Asuka blinked as her eyes lost their angry glare, and took on a more uncertain hue. Shinji began walking for the door, having won the staring match. 

Not to be outdone by him, Asuka spun on her heel and began walking too.

Shinji stopped at the door and gestured, "Ladies first..."

Asuka looked at him a moment, deciding if he was mocking her or not. She took the third option and chose to ignore Shinji's odd behavior, brushing past him and out the door, Shinji following not far behind.

Rain slashed unmercifully through the air as the two EVA pilots made ready to depart for their apartment. Asuka sighed somewhat unhappily as she looked at the buckets of water falling from the skies. "I guess it _would_ have to rain like this the _one_ day Misato works the afternoon shift." She muttered.

"Here," Shinji said, proffering his school bag/suitcase. "You might be able to use it to keep you dry."

Asuka looked at him incredulously, but took the bag anyway. '_Why is he always so nice to me?'_ Asuka briefly wondered in the privacy of her mind, and not for the first time. 

Without saying a word or sharing a glance of acknowledgment, the two teens sprinted into the rain and wind, running towards the apartment which they called home.

_'It's time once again to show my vast superiority.'_ Asuka thought to herself as they ran. She lengthened her strides and attempted to quicken her pace. _'Eat my dust, third child... Wha?!?'_ Out of the corner of her eye, Asuka could see that Shinji was still running right along side her. Once again she attempted to increase her speed, but found no matter how fast she tried to go, she could not escape him. 

Asuka was paying so much attention to the boy running beside her and not enough to where she herself was going that she slipped on a puddle and lost her footing. She felt the world give way beneath her as she hurtled towards the pavement. It had happened so fast that there was no time to do anything but shut her eyes from what was bound to come.

What came was not the meeting of flesh and concrete that the red headed German had expected. She became aware of something holding her up, which promptly caused her to open her eyes. What she saw was the navy blue pants of the school uniform of Shinji Ikari as his two hands held her underneath her arms to prevent gravity from introducing her to the pavement below.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you pervert?!?" Asuka asked, referring to proximity of his hands to her female anatomy.

"Mmf mffm mmffa?" came Shinji's muffled reply. Asuka looked up and noticed that she still had the book bag Shinji had offered her in her hands, and it now was fully covering Shinji's face. 

Asuka quickly regained her footing and shoved Shinji away from her. 

"You okay, Asuka?" Shinji repeated, figuring she hadn't understood him with his book bag on his face.

"I'm fine." Asuka snapped back at him, sounding irritated. She looked at him again, sure that she'd see a mocking look saying: _You're lucky I caught you, Sorhyu_. The expression she _did _find on Shinji's face held not even a remote trace of sarcasm or cruelty. His face was a bit red around the nose and forehead, but that was likely the result of her smacking him with the book bag as she fell. The look in his eyes bothered her though. Something about it sent alarm bells off in her head. No one else had ever looked _that_ way at her... besides Shinji. It wouldn't have bothered her so much if she'd only been able to decide what exactly that look _meant_.

Shinji merely nodded and turned to resume the their trek home. 

"When's this stupid storm gonna let up, anyway?" Asuka muttered as she began walking to catch up with him.

Apparently, Fate had decided to answer her question, as they reached edge of the storefront awning they had stopped under, a waterspout released a large blast of water that hit Shinji, thoroughly soaking him. It was mother nature's way of telling her "not anytime soon". 

Asuka attempted to stifle her urge to laugh, but a small chuckle managed to slip through her resolve. Shinji apparently heard this, as he stopped spluttering from the impromptu soaking he'd just received and turned to face her. He sighed as a weak smile crossed his face.

Asuka never thought a smile could be disturbing, but the one Shinji gave her was truly vexing.

_'He's smiling? Why?'_ Asuka asked herself as they stood in the pouring rain._ 'He just got laughed at after being soaked on accident, and he's smiling?'_

"Come on. Let's get home and out of this storm." Shinji said after they stood like that a while. Wordlessly the two Eva pilots continued their hasty journey home through the storm.

* M * I * N * D *

"Emotional confusion processes initiated, development of spinal strength in subject 'Shinji' from prior cranial trauma confirmed, further enhancement to commence according to schedule." The young man sighed as he leaned back from the monitor and keyboard. A twisted smile crept across his countenance once again. "Proceed with planned scenario."

After taking a swallow from a bottle of Mountain Dew, the young man's face becomes a mask of complete concentration, as he leans back over his keyboard and once again begins to reshape the world on his computer screen.

+ G + A + M + E + S +

The two teens burst through the apartment door, glad to at last be away from the rage of mother nature. They simultaneously collapsed in the living room, each panting from their long run home from school. Eventually their breathing returned to normal, but it remained the only sound to be heard in the apartment.

Until Shinji sneezed, that is. The noise shattered the quiet that had settled over the room and prompted Asuka to look over at Shinji for the first time since they had gotten back to apartment. His school shirt clung to him like a transparent plugsuit, and his slacks were several paradoxical shades darker than normal. As Shinji used his index finger to rub at his complaining nose, Asuka noticed that the movement caused rivulets of water to fall from his hair and streak down his face.

"Gesundheit..." Asuka said, on reflex.

"Huh? oh... thanks..." Shinji replied.

"Hey Shinji..." Asuka started after a few seconds of silent contemplation.

Shinji felt his mouth go dry. _Oh no... THAT voice... The same one she used that day when she suggested kissing..._

"Yes Asuka?" he asked, hoping that his voice wasn't faltering too much.

"Why'd you lend me your bag instead of using it yourself?"

So immense was his relief, Shinji didn't think about what he was going to say for an answer, and thus, he told the truth.

"I didn't want to see you in wet clothes." 

To be honest, Asuka wasn't sure of the response she was going to get from Shinji, but she would have never dreamed he'd say _that_. At first she was shocked, which begot rage, which begot blinding, white-hot fury.'_How... How... How DARE he!?!_'

As if on cue, lightning flashed outside as thunder gently jostled the apartment... as if nature herself was reflecting the mood of the German girl. 

"**What did you say?**" Asuka asked in a dangerous voice.

"I said that I didn't want to...er...um...see you in wet clothes..." Shinji replied, getting very nervous after he noticed the way Asuka was looking at him and realized what he had said moments earlier.

"And WHAT exactly did you mean by that?" Asuka asked, her voice filled with venom and her eyes with daggers.

"Well... uh..." Shinji started, but then felt something strange stirring in his chest. It felt... odd. It was like something hard pressing against his sternum trying to get out. He was distracted by this new sensation, and again did not pay attention to what his mouth decided he say next."...You see Asuka, I'd rather not see what a drowned rat looks like with a cheap red wig and a girl's school uniform on."

Silence. Asuka's mouth hung open in shock. 

_'Why the heck did I just say that?'_ Shinji asked his subconscious desperately. _'Am I _that _tired_ _of breathing? Forget that 'I mustn't run away' crud... **Run like hell!!!**'_

'_How... how could he?... Did he just say?..._' Asuka's mind was in state of chaos. So great was her fury that the red head couldn't even form a coherent thought. Her instincts soon took over, urging her to grab the nearest pillow and prepare to give Shinji the bashing he so rightly deserved. Unfortunately, her quarry had noticed her failure to act and decided to make a break for his room. Asuka flung the pillow after him, but was kept from its mark by Shinji's hastily shut door, prompting her to snarl in frustration and anger. 

Not wanting to give Shinji the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to her, Asuka flipped on the television and grumbled beneath the volume. Finding this to be unsatisfactory after some indeterminate period of time had passed, Asuka decided to slip into to her own room in order to fume properly.

'_Idiot-Shinji... where does he get off... How dare he... he..._' Asuka growled in frustration as she threw herself onto the futon that was her bed. She grabbed her pillow and began to throttle it as if it were Shinji's neck. It wasn't quite as good as the real deal, but was a satisfying feeling nonetheless. It proved quite therapeutic, in fact.

After choking the life out of the pillow (and then some, considering it was inanimate to begin with), Asuka calmed down some and began to think about just what had made her angry. '_Since when do I care what Idiot-Shinji thinks?_' she finds herself asking. 

'_I don't care what that animated turnip thinks of me...'_ Asuka responded to herself._ 'I'm the Great Asuka Langley Sorhyu! I don't need anybody else! The only opinions that matter at all are my own!_'

'_But why do I still feel so angry... and... and..._' She didn't let herself finish the rest of that thought. Instead, she threw her pillow as hard as she could at her door.

'_When did jellyfish-boy grow a spine all of a sudden?_' she wondered trying to follow a line of thought that wasn't so introspective. '_He's never stood up for himself like _**that**_ before now... What changed in him to make him say those things?_' Pondering that, Asuka continued to calm down and soon lost interest in fuming and moved on to reading one of her newer magazines.

Shinji, meanwhile, was still pondering what under the heavens could have possibly made him say that. He'd been somewhat depressed lately, but he didn't think that he was suicidal, though his recent behavior would offer a strong argument to the contrary. What else could possibly have explained the insult he'd just dealt the "red haired devil" of 2-A? He then remembered the way he'd felt right before the words had come out of his mouth. Could that have been responsible for his near brush with death?

He glanced at his alarm clock, and saw that it was about time he get around to cooking dinner. He opened his door cautiously, ready for an attack at any second, but none came. Emboldened, Shinji took a step outside his room and glanced around. The TV was on, but Asuka was nowhere to be seen. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shinji set about preparing the day's evening meal.

Trying to avoid sneezing in the food, Shinji cursed himself for remaining in his wet clothes. In all the excitement, he hadn't changed, and thus was _very_ aware of the apartment's every draft. He had later justified his giving Asuka his schoolbag as being an act of gentlemanly conduct, and besides, he didn't want her getting sick if he could prevent it. Good reasons both, though they were attempts at self delusion. Honestly he wasn't really sure as to what had created the urge to act that way towards her. He'd done it on impulse, not even thinking about it, something rather rare for him. That fact bothered him much more than the cold, soggy state he was in, and he felt that he couldn't let it drop until he had it puzzled out.

Shinji was so busy pondering, that he had failed to notice that Asuka had come out of her room and was now standing not very far behind him. Smelling her chance to get some revenge, Asuka crept up silently until she was only two from Shinji's ear. "Let's get _one_ thing straight, third child..." She said in a honeyed voice.

"Gah!!" Shinji half shouted , startled. He spun to face the source of the sound, and was met by the face of his red haired roommate. '_There's something very....**evil**... about that smirk she's wearing_' Shinji decided at that very moment. "Wh-what's that Asuka?" he managed to stammer in response to her earlier statement. 

Asuka took another step closer, without breaking the eye contact she'd established, managing to make Shinji even more nervous. "I'm a NATURAL redhead." Asuka stated in a way that she hoped left no room for argument.

'_What...What did she mean by that?..._' Shinji wondered wildly as his eyes refused to break away from hers.

Asuka noticed the (expected) look of confusion in his eyes and prepared to move in for the kill. "What's the problem, Shinji?" She asked, her voice full of honeyed tones once again.

While Shinji continued to try and puzzle out what the heck was exactly going on here, Asuka gleefully delivered the deathblow. Her eyes slanted seductively and her lips turned up their corners in a lazy smile as she leaned even closer to him. "Do you need... proof, perhaps?" she asked, making her voice as "suggestive" as she could, but unable to restrain the mischief that was twinkling in her eyes.

Suddenly, a buried memory of a conversation he'd heard between Kensuke and Touji about the ways to "distinguish" a female's "natural" hair color surfaced in Shinji's memory. And Asuka had just... and looking at him like... suggesting...

Shinji fought desperately against the furious blush rising to his cheeks and looked away from her in embarrassment and shock. Satisfied, Asuka smirked once again and returned to her earlier abandoned spot in front of the television, leaving poor Shinji still blushing and the ramen overcooking.

'_No matter how much of a spine he might grow,_' Asuka thought to herself smugly, '_he'll never be invulnerable to _that_ particular attack._'

Shinji looked on as Asuka turned away. '_That_ _was... odd._' he thought to himself as he watched her. Her behavior mystified him. Was she merely toying with him, or was she... nah, couldn't be. There was _no way_ she had any such inclination.

'_She can be real nice at times, though... but at others, she's a real pain. What goes on in that mind of hers?_' He sighed as he turned back to his cooking. '_I'll probably never know..._'

+ M + I + N + D +

Sighing the young man leans back from his computer screen and rubs his eyes to exorcize the weariness that plagues them. "That's enough of that." he says as he fights back a yawn. After taking another dose of carbohydrate and caffeine saturated soft drink, he shakes his head to clear the cobwebs, then returns once more to his all-business attitude.

"All right." he says with renewed vigor in his voice, "Let's get some action going on here, shall we?"

The sound of fingertips tapping away at a keyboard fills the otherwise silent bedroom, as the young man continues to play god over the unfortunate EVA pilots.

* G * A * M * E * S *

In the skies above Tokyo-3, amongst the dark forest of clouds, lurked a threat even more dangerous than the severe weather conditions. It had remained undetected, watching as the storm beat down upon the fortress-city of humanity. But recently, it had grown... well, for lack of a better term... bored with its present situation. Its mission was not scheduled for this particular time... but what was the harm in causing a bit of mayhem to help pass the time while it waited?

Perhaps it should have asked the HQ's on-duty staff about that question...

Alarms and Klaxons suddenly filled the air adding to the panicked, desperate atmosphere of NERV's headquarters. Only moments before, Makoto Hyuga had been relaxing at his post, reading his magazine, not a worry in the world. The MAGI were running smoothly, the EVA's were tucked in their cages, God was in his Heaven and all was right in the world. The sudden commotion startled him, causing him to drop his magazine and knock over his still-hot coffee, which promptly fell into his lap (Yeowch!!!). Before he could do anything about it though, the object of his private romantic fantasies, the infamous Major Katsuragi, came running into the Command Center. '_God, you must **really** hate me.._.' he thought to himself and the aforementioned divinity as he struggled to stifle his yelp of pain and surprise.

"Situation!" Misato demanded immediately.

Shigeru was the one to respond. "Target appeared out of the clouds. Sensors aren't giving much of anything else other than the fact that some strange body of energy/matter is there... the storm seems to be causing too much interference."

"Is it an angel?" Misato queried, turning in Maya's direction.

"Unconfirmed." Maya responded looking up from her station, "The MAGI are all withholding judgement without further data."

"Damn!" Misato swore. _'This situation seems to be too eerily familiar. . ._'

"Have the EVAs prepped for launch immediately." Misato ordered. "How soon can we get the pilots here?"

"Section two operatives have already picked them up and are en route." Shigeru reported. "ETA is fifteen seconds."

"What's the status of the civilian evacuation?" she asked

"Sector five's evac should be complete in about forty-five seconds," replied Maya, "Surrounding sectors should be finished evacuating in about three minutes."

Misato could only nod. "Here we go again..." she muttered under her breath.

Not much later, all three EVA pilots were suited up and in their entryplugs, hurriedly reviewing what little data on the target was available on their HUD. Misato soon appeared over the command center's com channel. 

"You'll be deployed around the target in order to use your EVA's sensors to triangulate the target's exact position using the MAGI. You'll be armed, but you ARE NOT to engage the target unless given orders to do so. Understood?"

All three pilot's confirmed. Misato gave them a weak smile, letting some the real her self out past her serious military persona. "Be careful out there, you three."

"Don't worry about us, Misato," Asuka said, with sarcasm obvious in her voice, "After all, we have the Invincible Shinji here to save us, right?"

Misato was about to reprimand Asuka, but the unthinkable happened. 

"And don't you ever forget it, Asuka." Shinji said, his voice uncharacteristically confident as smug smile faintly touched his facial features. '_Where the hell did that come from?_' Asuka, Misato, _and_ Shinji asked themselves at the exact same time.

Hoping she'd be able to avoid NERV's further embarrassment by its pilots Misato gave the order that was sure to shut them up for a bit. "LAUNCH EVAS!!"

Arriving on the now-barren streets of Tokyo-3, Shinji surveyed the skies, noticing how much the pelting rain on the bio-mechanoid's optical sensors were interfering with visibility. '_State of the art technology... yet it hasn't any windshield wipers..._' he thought to himself with an inward smile.

"Shinji..." Misato's voice came over the com channel, "Proceed northeast by a bearing of forty-five degrees. We're going to try to close on the target's position to better pinpoint its location, as the EVAs' sensor readings still aren't enough to get an accurate position due to the storm. Asuka is approaching the same relative position from east of yours, and Rei will do likewise from the northeast."

"Confirmed." Shinji responded. Taking the rifle issued from the nearby armament building, Shinji proceeded to do as he had been told.

Back in the command center, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi frowned perplexedly at the data being fed to her by the console's view screen. "This can't be right... No storm could wreak this much havoc with the sensor network, no matter how bad. Something else has got to causing this interference."

Misato looked over at her friend, rather disturbed by this new information. "Could something be interfering with the MAGI's sensory link?" Misato asked, keeping her voice steady and serious, not betraying the slightest hint of the worry that she truly felt from this situation.

Ritsuko shook her head in reply. "Not unless its something completely unknown to modern physics." she informed her dark haired friend. "Mother was very thorough about shielding both the MAGI and its linkage networks against any and all known direct and indirect interference."

"Oh..." Misato said, a bit at a loss as to what Ritsuko had meant by all that.

"Though..." Ritsuko continued, "That very well could possibly be the case. We are nowhere near to being fully aware of what the Angel's are capable of doing."

"So you think it's the Angels, then?"

The corner Ritsuko's mouth curled up into sarcastic smirk as if to say '_What else could it be?'_

Misato merely shrugged, then returned her attention to the operation. "Shinji, change your heading by fifteen degrees to your right." she said over the com channel.

"O-Okay, Misato." he replied, his voice betraying the slight nervousness he felt.

'_I really hate the silence... It reminds me too much of father..._' Shinji thought to himself as he had Unit One peek around the building it was using as cover. Shrugging off that thought and berating himself for a moment for letting his mind wander, Shinji adjusted Unit-01's heading and continued towards the expected position of the target.

Unit-01 wove through the streets moving as fast it could while remaining relatively quiet(for a huge bio-mechanical war machine, anyway). The EVA soon ducked behind another building for cover from detection. While waiting a few seconds before moving again, Shinji's thoughts took the opportunity to stray from piloting. _'Are we going to fight another angel? They've never behaved so subversively before... Could it possibly be something besides an angel? But what?'_

"Ayanami?" Shinji asked , opening the com channel between the EVAs. "Have you seen or detected anything yet?"

"No." the enigmatic pilot of Unit-00 responded, her voice as monotone as usual.

Shinji frowned slightly... They should have been getting close enough to get some sort of indication on what sort of opponent they were facing. Closing the com channel with, he immediately set about opening another to Unit-02 and Asuka.

"What do you want?" the red haired pilot asked, using a rather unfriendly tone of voice.

Shinji ignored it. "Have you detected anything more from the target?" he asked.

"No. Why?"

Shinji sighed... He didn't have any idea as to why he was asking. "Something about this just... bothers me, I guess." he replied.

"I think you're just _thinking_ too much..." Asuka said, "...as usual."

Shinji had Unit-01 repeat the process of dodging from its position to behind another building before replying to her. "Maybe... but doesn't something feel rather odd about this?"

"No." Asuka lied. Actually, she did have a nagging feeling that something didn't feel right, but she sure as hell wasn't going admit that to him at the moment. Knowing that Shinji had probably seen right through her, she tried to cover it up. "Well, at least not any odder than all the other Angel attacks that have happened."

"When you put it that way, I guess you've got a pretty good point..." Shinji said, still sounding not totally convinced. 

'_Then again, since when is Shinji ever completely sure about _anything_?_' Asuka asked herself 

"You should be getting within range to get a visual." Misato's voice came over the com channel, snapping the red-haired girl back to reality. Her senses immediately went on full-alert, expecting a possible opponent from any direction. But nothing came.

Calling up the mapping data being produced by the MAGI on her HUD, Asuka tried to get an idea as to where she should be expecting the target from. A street level map came into existence before her, showing her position and those of the other EVAs, as well as a highlighted portion, a circular shape about two scale square miles in area, identified simply as "target area A." The blinking red dot that was her was on the very edge of this area. '_If its somewhere in there, why can't I see it yet?_' Asuka wondered, beginning to feel a little more than just worried.

Back in NERV's nerve-center, Misato was mercilessly chewing on her lip in frustration and worry. "What the hell is going on here?!" she muttered looking at the situation map. "The EVAs should be right on top of the thing right now! We still can't even get a direct reading on the target."

For the second time in a half-hour, alarms, bells, whistles, and seventy-six trombones went off throughout the underground headquarters of NERV. 

"We've got a confirmation on a pattern : blue." Hyuga shouted over the noisy racket that now filled the command station.

Fate definitely had a perverted sense of humor today.

"Shinji! Asuka! Rei! It's been confirmed as an Angel!" Misato said over the com channel, sounding much more calm than she really was, "Prepare to engage!"

"Um...uh... M-Misato??" Shinji stuttered inquiringly.

"What?"

"What exactly are we supposed to engage?!?" Asuka growled before Shinji could say anything more.

Misato had not expected an outburst from Asuka, and was both shocked and confused by it. "Wha..?"

"There's not a hide nor hair of anything even _remotely resembling_ an angel out here!" Asuka grumbled.

"How's this possible?" Misato asked looking over to Ritsuko. The blond scientist only shrugged in response. '_Fat lot of help you are today, Ritsuko..._' Misato mentally grumbled as she quickly threw together a battle plan.

"Units -01 and -02 are to proceed as a pair into the target zone as Unit-00 continues its own approach from the north." Misato ordered over the com channel. "Whatever happens, do not engage the angel alone. I repeat, no solo attack is to be executed."

"Just great. Not _only_ do I have to play _hide' n' seek_ with an _angel_, I have to do it with Shinji-Idiot!" Asuka complained, thumbing the rifle's safeties off.

"Sorry," she heard Shinji's voice say right before the purple form of Unit-01 appeared beside her, seemingly out of nothing. Asuka was so surprised she nearly dropped her rifle on her EVA's foot. '_How the hell did he DO that?!?_' Asuka wondered as she tried to regain her composure.

"Never mind!" Asuka snapped at him. " Let's just get going, alright?"

"Okay, but would you like point?"

Asuka thought about for a second, and concluded that there was no good reason that she shouldn't take it. She confidently took the lead, leaving Shinji to watch her rear.

'_He'd like that, wouldn't he?_' Asuka smirked as they began their advance into enemy territory. '_Stupid pervert... Well, at least he was smart enough to leave the point position to those best suited for it._'

Shinji could not shake the feeling of uneasiness that he'd had ever since being deployed on the surface. '_Something... unpleasant is going to happen... and I think it's going to be soon._' To make things worse, the rain had picked up, and it was making it hard for even the EVA's to see more than a couple of hundred yards in front of them.

Shinji would never be sure as to what had made him look up at that exact moment, but he had. A glowing shape had descended from the dark clouds and was bearing down on their position. "Asuka!" was all he managed to shout before his reflexes opened fire on the approaching enemy. Though his EVA's aim was unerring, the projectiles merely exploded harmlessly upon contacting what could only have been an AT field.

'_How did it get so close to us without being detected?_' Asuka wondered as she spun and brought her firearm to bear on the approaching menace. Expanding her Unit's own AT field to maximum she too opened fire. Again the explosive rounds used as projectiles detonated harmlessly against the barrier the target projected around itself.

Back in the control room, Misato could only watch as the two pilots empty their ammo clips on the target without having any effect. "Units -01 and -02, withdraw to the nearest armament building immediately!" she ordered. 

"Major!" Maya exclaimed, sounding alarmed "We're receiving some strange energy fluctuations emanating from the target! It looks as if it might be preparing to launch some sort of attack!"

"Shinji! Asuka! Get out of their NOW!" Misato yelled into the com channel.

Asuka had noticed the glow of the Angel growing brighter, and knew what was bound to follow. She dove behind a nearby building, catching out of the corner of her eye Unit-01 doing the same. A brilliant flash of light seared her retinas, temporarily blinding her for a few seconds. When she regained her eyesight the angel was now floating the sky in front of her, its glow slowly growing stronger as it glowered down at her.

Asuka moved to evade once more, but was brought up short. Her power cable was stuck! She engaged the emergency cable ejection system, but precious time had already been lost. The Angel was about to open fire once more.

Shinji saw Unit-02's cable become stuck and knew Asuka wouldn't be able to get away in time. Without thinking for a moment on what he was going to do, Shinji leapt into action.

It was as if time had slowed to crawl. The Angel flared with an amazing brilliance as it sent a lance of light towards her at a snail's pace. She tried to dodge, but it was if she were trying to move underwater... her EVA just wouldn't get out of the way in time. The light was just about to hit her when she saw the form of Unit-01 appear in front of her.

Suddenly time snapped back to its normal rate of progression, at which point Unit-01 impacted with Unit-02, knocking it backwards, leaving Unit-01 to take the brunt of the blow. Asuka heard a scream that made her blood run cold as Unit-01 fell to its knees clutching its head in pain.

Asuka gaped in horror. "Shinji!" she shouted, his screams sounding as if he were being slowly ripped apart. She wanted to run, look away, to close her eyes. She could do nothing though, and thus stood helplessly as the light engulfed Unit-01's prostrate form and struck her as well. As it hit Asuka felt as if every nerve in her body had become afire with exquisite pain. She saw everything go white as the LCL became filled with the sounds of exultant singing.

And then the world faded to black...

  
  
  
  


*** Non-Story content beyond this point *** _  
For goddess's sake man, click the **Back** button!_ _Click the **Back **button while you still can!!_

**: A few Quick Notes from the Author :**

For those that might be wondering, this begins not long after the defeat of the twelfth Angel, shortly before the Loss of EVA Unit-04. If you intend to sue over using these characters I'll simply plead insanity, so really, what's the use? Besides, Gainax and Anno should be happy their production inspired me enough to put the time, effort, and energy into writing this piece of fiction. 

I'll try to release a chapter every week or so, but realistically it'll be every two weeks or so. I hope. Since I'm working two jobs right now, I don't have all that much time to myself. I seem to remember a thing called 'sleep'... It was supposed to be done at night I think. But that can't be right, can it? Night is the time I'm at my computer ... I'm so confused....

Sorry about that. I'll warn you now that this story _might_ play with your heads a bit more than your used to seeing. Sorry, but didn't you see the title? It's all in good fun and you shouldn't suffer any permanent or irreparable damage from reading. Just in case though, I'm claiming non-liability for any traumas that reading might incur, so send your therapy bills to your health insurance company and leave me alone. I've got enough of my own to pay. 

With that out of the way, I'd like to thank in advance any of those of you who review this piece. Not only does your criticism improve my writing, but it provides the necessary encouragement to keep on going. I even enjoy getting flames (the more combustible the better), as they let me know that at least someone took the time to at least look at it and react to it. So, if you're so inclined, leave me a review, or email me, send messenger pigeons, use smoke signals, call me at home in the middle of dinner, because any sort of feed back is appreciated more than you could possibly know.


	2. Part Second

*** Mind * Games ***

  
  


_Part Second_

  
  


Shinji saw Unit-02's cable become stuck and knew Asuka wouldn't be able to get away in time. Without thinking for a moment on _what_ he was going to do, Shinji leapt into action.

It was as if time had slowed to crawl. The Angel flared with an amazing brilliance as it sent a lance of light towards her at a snail's pace. She tried to dodge, but it was if she were trying to move underwater... her EVA just wouldn't get out of the way in time. The light was just about to hit her when she saw the form of Unit-01 appear in front of her.

Suddenly time snapped back to its normal rate of progression, at which point Unit-01 impacted with Unit-02, knocking it backwards, leaving Unit-01 to take the brunt of the blow. Asuka heard a scream that made her blood run cold as Unit-01 fell to its knees clutching its head as if in pain.

Asuka gaped in horror. "Shinji!" she shouted, his screams sounding as if he were being slowly ripped apart. She wanted to run, to look away, to close her eyes. She could do nothing though, and thus stood helplessly as the light engulfed Unit-01's prostrate form and began to swallow her as well. When it struck it was as if every nerve in her body had become afire pain. She saw everything go white as the LCL became filled with the sounds of exultant singing.

And then the world faded to black...

* M * I * N * D *

"Awful tempting to leave it here." the young man commented, taking a moment to step back (figuratively) and take a look at his handiwork. He grew thoughtful for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Nah... besides, I'm having too much fun to just 'stop' now. Now then, _on with the show_!" With that, he sets back to work, fingers flying over the keys and eyes glued to the screen.

- G - A - M - E - S -

After first, there was only darkness. 

_click-Clack... click-Clack... click-Clack..._

Red circles of light appeared only to rush past.

_click-Clack... click-Clack... click-Clack..._

The darkness fades revealing she is sitting in some type of train car. Across from her sits Shinji Ikari. "Are we dead?" she asks.

Shinji looks up, noticing her for the first time. "A-Asuka?" Shinji stammers, quite surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Shinji." Asuka snapped back at him, getting annoyed. "Were you expecting someone else perhaps?"

"Before, its only been me, myself, and Rei..." Shinji said, thinking aloud.

Asuka gaped. "You've been dead _before_?" she asked incredulously.

Shinji looked serenely into her eyes. "We're not dead." Shinji stated calmly, "At least I don't think so. I've been... here... before this, but I don't remember when or all of happened here."

Asuka shook her head. '_This is too weird._' Asuka thought to herself, '_I must be dreaming or something. That's the only explanation for it. The angel attack, Shinji growing a spine, this, its all just a part of some strange dream from indigestion. I'll never eat Misato's cooking again._'

"What is it?" Shinji asked, noticing her silence. "Don't you have anything to say?"

"Well..." Asuka began, but what anything else she was going to say was drowned out by the loud horn as the train entered another tunnel.

Once again, the world became a sea of darkness...

* * * * *

Her eyes opened to find she was lying in a room illuminated by a pale blue light. '_Is this the infirmary?_' she wondered as she started to take in her surroundings. She tried sitting up, but became aware of the horrible headache she had about halfway there and slumped back into the bed.

A woman wearing a nurse's uniform entered, and smiled when she saw Asuka awake. She left after asking how Asuka was feeling, probably going to report to the Doctor or NERV... it didn't really matter.

'_What happened?_' she wondered. '_What about the Angel?_'

Not much later Misato entered the room and came to her bedside. "How are you feeling Asuka?"

"Like shit." Asuka replied, managing to sit up without the throbbing in her head overwhelming her. "What happened?"

Misato frowned. "To be totally honest, we're not quite sure... Rei arrived just as your EVA was 'hit' and fired the positron rifle at the Angel, which promptly disappeared."

"What about Shinji?" Asuka asked, with more concern in her voice than she was really comfortable showing. 

Misato turned away, looking troubled. "What is it, Misato?" Asuka demanded, not wanting to be kept in the dark.

"Shinji..Shinji is..." Misato began in a broken voice, Asuka felt a cold feeling sliding around in her stomach. "Shinji's... in a coma... as far as anyone can tell. The Angel did something to him... its almost as if it killed his mind while leaving the body unharmed."

"What?" Asuka asked, not wanting to believe what she had just heard. Shinji couldn't be... 

"His higher brain activity is at zero. In a normal coma, people at least show some signs of brain activity, like dreams and the like. Shinji... he's completely void of anything to indicate that a part of his mind is still alive in there somewhere." a tear traced its way down Misato's cheek, leaving a track of moisture in its wake. "I... I think this time... this time he's not going to... to..."

"NO!" Asuka near shouted, surprising herself with the force with which it had come out. "Don't... Don't say it Misato."

Misato's tear-filled eyes met Asuka's, and an understanding passed between the two. "Asuka..." Misato said softly.

"He's not... He can't be gone Misato."

"I know." Misato replied breaking eye contact once again. The two sat in silence for what seem like hours. Finally Misato broke the invisible barrier of quiet. "The doctors want to keep you over-night for observation, though I can get you out of here now, if you want."

Asuka absently studied her hands, which were currently crumpling the bed sheets within their desperate grasp, for a moment before speaking again. "Can... Can I see him?" she asked quietly, not looking up.

"I'll see what I can do, Asuka." Misato replied.

"Thank you... Then I'd prefer to spend the night at home, after I see him." Asuka said, still not looking up from her clenched hands. Misato nodded, then left the room to retrieve some clothing for her young charge.

After dressing, Asuka followed Misato through the twisting hospital hallways to the ward where the third child was being kept for medical observation.

Shinji was laying in an open med-tank, tubes coming out of his arms leading to various machines and I.V. bags, while wires and electrodes which plugged into a half dozen different computers were all over his chest and forehead. Shinji's skin tone was a sickly white color and his seemingly damp hair clung limply to his skull. Asuka felt a surge of hope as she noticed his eyes were open, but it fled quickly when she looked closer and saw his soulful blue orbs were glazed over and sightless. The awful scene was one right out of a science-fiction nightmare. He looked _dead_, though the steady beeping from the heart monitor and the faint sound of his breathing argued to the contrary.

'_That could have been me laying there._'

No matter how she tried to banish it, the thought kept itself forefront in her mind.

'_Shinji... Why? It was my fault I couldn't get away in time. Why?_' Asuka wondered. Unable to bear looking at the ghastly scene for a moment longer, she turned to Misato.

"Let's go."

- M - I - N - D -

"Heh." the young man said as he leaned back his chair. He looked back thoughtfully at his latest addition to his creation, finding himself pleasantly amused. 

"Not what I originally envisioned the scene as, but I think I like this better, don't you?" he asked as he turned to his compatriot sitting beside him.

Apache merely smiled in response, his canines flashing in the dim light of the computer's monitor.

"It just wouldn't be Eva without some good angst in it, now would it?" the young man asked rhetorically as he turned back to the screen in front of him. "Back to work." with that, the sounds of typing once more could be heard in the darkness of the small bedroom.

* G * A * M * E * S *

Nothingness. 

A whole lot of nothingness. 

Those were the only words Shinji could think of to describe it. He'd been in that strange train car with Asuka one moment, and the next thing he knew he was here. Here among the forests of Nothingness.

"Maybe I _did_ die..." Shinji wondered aloud, then smiled ruefully. "If this is the afterlife, though, I've got to say that its nothing like I expected it to be. I always imagined it having more..." He paused, searching for the right words, "...substance."

He sighed... sort of. He didn't feel the rise and fall of his chest he normally associated with sighing, he looked to see what was wrong. His torso was nowhere to be found.

"Strange..." He muttered as he started looking for his other body parts. All he found, though, was just more of the same nothingness that he'd seen earlier. 

"I'm not dead, am I?" he asked no one in particular, not expecting an answer.

"No" a voice replied. A familiar voice. His own voice.

"You again." Shinji said, not sure exactly how he felt about his counterpart being here. "Where are we?"

"You are in the Void of the human brain. I am merely a fragment of your own awareness, thus I am emanating from yourself." the voice replied.

"So our body isn't really gone?" Shinji asked.

"I do not know."

"What do you mean? You said we were in the void of the brain, so our body _must_ still exist..."

"I never said it was _our_ brain exactly."

"We're..."

"Yes."

"Someone else's?"

"There can be no mistake. If we were in our own body, we would not be as separated as we are now. Therefore, we must be in another body."

"Alright, but... how do we get back to _our_ body?"

"I do not know."

"So we're stuck here?"

"No."

"That's really annoying, you know." 

"What?"

"Leading me to false conclusions like that."

"You are the one leading yourself to any false conclusions you might have."

"That statement is so ironic that its not funny."

"It was not meant to be."

"So... How do we get out of here?"

"We might try contacting the other awareness that has its residence here."

"Won't that be... well...weird?"

"Most likely. But what are the alternatives?"

Shinji let out another sort-of sigh. "I guess you're right... So how do we do it? Contact the other awareness, that is."

"We could try shouting, maybe."

"You're joking."

"No."

The two voices of Shinji proceeded to call out various greetings as loudly as they were capable of in hope the original awareness would hear them. They stopped for a second when the nothingness started turning into something... a splash of color, a fragment of an image, neither was sure exactly. But as soon as it had appeared, it returned to the nothingness from which it came. 

"This isn't working." Shinji, said, feeling hope fleeing.

"We are too weak alone. We must form the True Shinji, if we are to connect with this awareness."

"Aren't we true Shinjis already?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean, 'yes and no'?"

"We are true Shinji's in the sense that we are both Shinji Ikaris in personality . But the True Shinji is the composite of both of our selves in one self, allowing an entire awareness."

"So how do we go about doing this?"

"Do you accept me as being a part of yourself, Shinji?"

Shinji thought before he responded, unsure as to what he should say. Suddenly, he became aware of an irresistible force driving him towards one conclusion. He didn't bother to fight against it. It really was the only answer he could find within himself. "Yes." he replied.

"Then it is so."

With those words, Shinji felt the other presence dissipate and join with his. He felt... different, though if he were pressed to describe it, he'd have had real difficulty putting it into words. 

A doorway appeared in the nothingness. Shinji moved through, leaving the void of the brain for parts unknown.

"Um... Hello? Can anyone hear me?" he said once he was past the threshold, hoping against hope that the awareness that controlled this body would hear and understand him.

+ M + I + N + D +

The young man paused from typing to smile at the screen of the computer he was working at. "I have only yet _begun_ to get weird!" he said with a laugh and a sinister grin as he rubbed his palms together.

Apache gave a tired groan in response.

- G - A - M - E - S -

Asuka lay on her futon, staring blankly at the ceiling. She had tried to sleep, but sleep simply refused to come to her. Every time she tried closing her eyes, either the images of Unit-01 being swallowed by the Angel's light or the vision of Shinji in a coma being plugged into all those hideous machines, causing her to immediately open them again in horror.

"Why?" she asked the question out loud once again. "Why, Shinji? Why did you do that?"

No one had ordered him to do it; there had been no time for that. _She_ certainly hadn't asked him to do it. Why _had_ he done it then? 

She remembered the joking they had done before the operation had began. She had mocked him, calling him the 'invincible Shinji.' Though she used it mockingly, she also felt the nickname somewhat appropriate. No matter how bad or hopeless things seemed, he'd always managed to save the day somehow. Just like a hero in a fairy tale.

Had he taken the Angel's blow because he had wanted to be a hero? That didn't make any sense though... even with his recent odd behavior, Shinji just wasn't the type to do something that painful simply because it was heroic.

"Then why, dammit?" Asuka growled in frustration as she rolled onto her side. No matter how hard she tried, she knew she wasn't going to understand the reason Shinji had acted the way he did. The only one who understood Shinji's reasons for pushing Unit-02 and taking the attack instead was Shinji himself. "Why... Why am I so worked up over it anyway? It's his fault he ended up like he is, not mine."

'_Keep telling yourself that, Sorhyu. You _might_ eventually believe it._' Her more logical mind remarked dryly. It was no use trying to escape the guilty feeling she was suffering from. She couldn't help feeling that Shinji had done what he had because of _her_.

He made her lunches as well as his own. He always let her have the bathroom first in the morning. He made sure that they had something other than Japanese food at least once a week. He gave her his school bag to use as an umbrella in the rainstorm. He never offered any _real_ reason for doing these things. But she did realize that he did do them _for_ _her_, whether she cared to admit it or not. The thought of him never doing those sort of things ever again made her insides ache with a nerve-numbing pain. 

'_I guess he's just sort of grown on me._' she realized. '_Somewhere, among all the time we've spent together, I guess I got used to having him around._' It was more than just that, though. She had sworn never to get too attached to anyone else ever again, but she could not deny that she _cared_ for Shinji. 

'_He'll be alright._' she reassured herself. The image of Shinji laying in the med-tank with tubes and wires everywhere flashed in her mind's eye, damaging her confidence. She curled into a fetal position. "He has to be alright." she mumbled aloud.

Closing her eyes, she began to surrender to the sweet tempting of drowsiness, trying to find some peace within her exhaustion.

"Umm... Hello? Can anyone hear me?" 

Asuka bolted upright, and checked the room over. She had sworn she'd heard a voice... but she was the only one in the room. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling.

"Can you hear me? Please, answer me." the voice came again, this time it was clearer. 

Asuka thought the voice sounded familiar, somehow, but still could not find its source anywhere.

"Please. Say something if you can hear me..." The voice was now clear enough now that Asuka could recognize it.

"S-Shinji?" she stammered, not understanding what was going on. Was this some kind of a sick joke?

"A-As-Asuka?!? Is that you?" Shinji's voice asked, sounding very surprised.

Asuka looked around her room one more time. "Who the hell is doing this?" she asked, trying to keep her voice down so Misato wouldn't hear her talking herself.

"It's me! Shinji!" Shinji's voice responded.

"B-But it can't be... Shinji's in a coma..." She said, to herself more than anyone else who could have been listening. '_Am I going crazy?_' she wondered.

"You're not going crazy, Asuka. It's me, Shinji. You know, Idiot-Shinji? Please believe me, Asuka!"

"But... You can't... I must be..." Asuka stammered, stunned by the weirdness of the situation. "How?"she finally managed to ask.

"I... I'm not entirely sure, really. It's got something to with what happened during the Angel attack, though."

"Where are you?" Asuka asked, recovered somewhat from her shock. "Are you in some non-corporeal form or something?"

"Well... er... not really. Its kinda hard to explain, Asuka."

"Try anyway." Asuka said flatly.

"Well, to the best of my knowledge, I'm... well, I'm inside your head." Shinji said, sounding casual.

"Come again? I'm not sure I understood that."

"I'm inside your brain." Shinji explained calmly. "Somehow, my awareness and my body were separated, causing my awareness to take up residence elsewhere."

Asuka recalled something Misato had told her earlier "_...its as if the Angel killed his mind but left his body intact..._" Was this what had really happened to Shinji?

"Have you been up there this entire time?" Asuka asked, suddenly sounding curious.

"Er... I'm not sure, entirely..." Shinji responded, confused by the question. "But... yeah, I think so."

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING _BEFORE_ NOW, YOU IDIOT**?!**" Asuka growled furiously. "YOU PUT ME THROUGH A _HELLUVA_ LOT OF WORRY, AND YOU WERE _HERE_ THE WHOLE TIME**?!?!**" 

Shinji was quiet for a moment before he at last responded. "You were worried about me?" he asked, not quite believing it.

Asuka realized what she had just said and knew it was too late to take it back. "Well... er... Just answer the question Dumkopf!" She snapped, trying to cover it up.

"I didn't say anything because I couldn't." Shinji replied. "It took me _this_ long just to figure out how to talk to you." 

"Oh..." Asuka said.

After a period of silence, Shinji spoke again. "_You_ were worried about me?" he repeated.

"Yes, I was worried about you, idiot." Asuka replied muttering it under her breath, realizing answering was inevitable."What about it?"

"Why?" Shinji asked.

Asuka knew he was going to ask that question, but she didn't know how to answer it. She wasn't entirely sure of the reason she was worried about him. "Because, you idiot..." she replied, frantically searching for a plausible answer and drawing only blanks.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to answer, Asuka." Shinji said.

"I'm not uncomfortable!" Asuka snapped back at him.

"Asuka, I felt it. You were uncomfortable with my question."

"What you mean , you 'felt it'?"

"My awareness is sharing your body, Asuka. I could feel your emotion, almost as it was me feeling it, yet not quite."

"Cut it out, then!" Asuka growled, not liking the idea of someone else knowing _exactly_ what she was feeling. 

"I'm sorry."

Asuka noticed a strange feeling coming over her, not quite hers, yet she could still feel it. It was a feeling of shame that comes from having done something wrong. It felt very... strange... and very disconcerting to Asuka. '_Was that... Shinji's emotion I just felt?_' she wondered as she shivered slightly. 

"The emotions must be leaking through... I'd better leave. I'm sorry I bothered you like this Asuka." The feeling of shame increased as he spoke, then suddenly ceased altogether as he finished.

"Wait, Shinji!" Asuka said, but it was too late. The feeling of Shinji had fled from her. Asuka called out for him to come back, but she didn't get a response.

Asuka heard her door slide open. She looked over to find Misato standing in her doorway. "Asuka, what's wrong?" she asked. "I heard you talking to someone. Is everything all right?"

"I must have been talking in my sleep, Misato." Asuka replied. "I... I had a disturbing dream, that's all." 

"You wanna talk about it?" Misato offered.

Asuka shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Really."

Misato studied Asuka a moment before speaking again. "Okay then. I'll leave the offer open, though."

Asuka nodded in acknowledgment. "Good night, Misato."

"G'night." Misato replied, pulling the door closed once more.

Asuka found herself staring at the ceiling awhile after Misato had left. '_Is that what he feels every time he apologizes?_' Asuka wondered, '_How can he stand it?' _she shuddered slightly. _'Why does he get like that? It wasn't his fault, and yet he refused to stand up for himself... Just when he was beginning to show some backbone too._'

A unexpected yawn overtook her, alerting Asuka to just how tired she really was. Closing her eyes, exhaustion claimed her.

- M - I - N - D -

"I think that was in good taste. Don't you?" the young man said, looking to his companion sitting next to him. Apache growled something unintelligible at him.

The young man sighed and slumped forward in his seat. "Yeah, I know. I know! Things aren't going exactly the way I had planned them, though. It doesn't matter if things are running behind schedule. The end result WILL be the same... won't it?"

+ G + A + M + E + S +

"I didn't want to upset her..." Shinji moped in the privacy of the Void. The "door" was now shut, though Shinji knew he could open it again if necessary. "Somehow, I always manage to screw things up."

He sighed as he sat down and cradled his head in his hands. "If it weren't happening to me, this _might_ be funny. I mean, _come on_. Stuck inside the brain of a girl who can barely stand being around me... It _should_ be hilarious. "

"You pansy!" a tiny voice shouted, though it was barely audible. "Quit feeling so sorry for yourself!"

Shinji looked to find the source of the voice, but found he was still surrounded by the colorlessness of the Void. "Who are you?" he asked. "I thought I already absorbed my fragment."

"That's not easy to explain, but to try and put it simply... I'm _your spine_, Shinji!" The tiny voice replied. "Remember that little talk we had in Gym class about two days ago?"

"Huh?" Shinji asked confused. "I don't remember talking to you before, and how would I talk to you in gym class? You're just another part of my mind, aren't you?"

"The ball must have hit you harder than we thought." the voice remarked, steadily growing stronger. "You don't remember?"

"What ball?"

"Hoo boy..." the voice sighed. "Remember how you were playing three-on-three basketball in gym class?" Shinji nodded. "Good. Do remember the part when Touji faked a pass to Kensuke and then threw you a chest pass?"

Shinji laughed. "Yeah, it was an excellent fake too... it even fooled me. I wasn't ready for it so instead of catching it, I got nailed right in the back of the head, which knocked me out... cold... you mean we talked while I was unconscious?"

"You made sure as hell I wasn't part of your _conscious mind_, now, didn't you. But we discussed it, remember?"

Suddenly, he remembered. He hadn't wanted to go back to reality because he didn't want to face the embarrassment and the feeling that he'd let his friends down. Then _this_ character had shown up, offering to make it bearable, but on one condition: Shinji accept that he wasn't a total loser.

It had seemed an easy promise to make, but then he was asked to name one good quality about himself other than the fact he could pilot an EVA.

Despite his best efforts, Shinji had found himself unable to do so.

"Your problem is you actually believe that you _are_ worthless." the voice had told him. "We're going to have to change that. I'll try and intervene at those times others do tell you you're a worthless piece of steaming rubbish, but you'll have do the rest."

"Next thing I knew I was in the School Nurse's office." Shinji continued, returning from Memory Lane and getting back on Present Drive. "How come I wasn't able to remember any of this before?"

"Our conversation got sealed away with all the feelings of embarrassment and guilt that the ball incident caused," the voice replied "Courtesy of your very own brain. It's always trying to do that to traumatic points in your life. I just filed the incident as being a traumatic event."

"Oh." Shinji said, feeling a little dumbfounded.

"Everything had been going fine... until recently, that is. While you're here, I can't be silenced by your feelings of worthlessness. Not entirely, anyway."

"So why _are_ you being so talkative?" Shinji asked.

"You started feeling worthless again!" the voice near-shouted at him. "Geez! You really _can_ be denser than lead at times, you know that? Now, get out of self-pity-mode before you make me start to wretch. Remember Shinji, things could _always_ be worse."

"How could things possibly be worse?" Shinji asked, not believing it.

"Do you _really_ wanna know?" the voice replied.

Shinji thought about it a moment, then he smiled slightly. "No, I guess not. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I've got to go now, so remember what we talked about this time. Okay?" with that, the feeling of the voice's presence vanished.

It was then Shinji noticed that he now legs. And arms. He'd miraculously acquired a body.

"What the hell's going on? These weren't here before..."

No sooner had Shinji spoken than the Void shuddered and exploded in a frenzy of light and color.


	3. Part Third

**+ Mind + Games +**

_Part Third_

  
  


It was then Shinji noticed that he now had legs. And arms. He'd miraculously acquired a body.

"What the hell's going on? These weren't here before..."

No sooner had Shinji spoken than the Void shuddered and exploded in a frenzy of light and color.

* M * I * N * D *

"...And now the _real_ fun begins!" laughed the young man as he continued typing.

*G * A * M * E * S *

The extravaganza of light and color eventually began to take on a more definite shape. Mean while, Shinji was learning that you didn't need a corporeal body to get dizzy or nauseated. At last, the world of the Void settled into a final form.

Shinji now found himself in some sort of long, lonely corridor. Though the lighting was adequate (despite there being no source for it from what Shinji could discern)it somehow gave the area an out-of-focus sort of look. The whole place felt... sterile... or antiseptic, even. It smelled familiar somehow... moments later Shinji recognized the smell. It was the smell of a Hospital.

"This is... strange." Shinji muttered as he looked around. "What am I doing here?"

Though he received no answer to that particular question, he _did_ hear a voice in the distance. Finding that he had little better to do at the moment, Shinji set out in the direction that it had seemed to come from.

As he got seemingly closer to the sound's origin, he recognized the owner of the voice... none other than Asuka Langley Sorhyu.

...and she sounded like she was in trouble.

Shinji started to run.

He wasn't running away, though. He was determined to find Asuka as quick as he possibly could. Nothing else mattered until he'd done that. 

He wasn't sure how long he had been running, only that he had heard Asuka cry out something unintelligible twice more before he at last had gotten close enough to make out some of the words.

"No!" Asuka shouted. "Stop it! It's not true!" 

Finally, he could see her. She was collapsed in a kneeling position, desperately clutching her hands over her ears, as if she were trying to keep from hearing something.

"But it _is_ true, Asuka." said a voice he did not recognize. "You know that it is."

A couple yards away from Asuka towered what seemed to be a giant rag doll. Its long hair was made of yarn nearly matching the shade of red that Asuka's hair was, and its eyes were formed by two large blue buttons. Though it did strongly resemble a harmless child's toy, Shinji felt some sort malicious ambience emanating from it.

"You are unwanted, unnecessary." the doll continued. "Your mother neglected you because you would not be the daughter she wanted you to be. Your father alienated you because of the daughter you had become. Kaji ignores and avoids you because you are not desirable."

"Stop it!" Asuka shouted as she seemingly attempted sink through the floor. "Leave me alone!"

"You _are_ alone, Asuka." the doll replied. "Don't you see that? You'll _always_ be alone. No one wants _you_, Asuka."

"But I'm an EVA pilot!" Asuka cried out in defiance. "I'm someone important! I'm the defense of Humanity against the Angels."

"They don't need you." the rag doll told her, coming closer to where Asuka lay on the floor. "You and they _both_ know that Shinji is capable of defeating the Angels by himself. No one needs a foolish _child_ like _you_."

"I am _not_ a child..." Asuka protested weakly. "I'm all grown up! I became an adult a long time ago! Leave me alone!"

"Such a pathetic little girl." the doll sighed, coming closer still. "Such a weak, frightened, pathetic little girl."

The sense of malice emanating became significantly stronger as the doll approached her. It felt as if the doll intended to harm Asuka in some way. "Come to heaven with me, Asuka!" called another woman's disembodied voice from off in the distance. "Come, let's die together!"

Shinji wasn't sure why he had done it. He wasn't even aware of himself doing it until after the act was complete. In a matter of a couple quick strides, he'd placed himself directly between Asuka and the doll.

The blue button-eyes flickered with what might have been an annoyance. "This is not your place, boy." the doll said to Shinji. "Get out of my way."

"No." he replied rather forcefully. "I won't allow you to hurt her anymore."

The rag doll threw back its head and let out a laugh. "You won't allow?" the doll sneered. "And just how do you intend to stop me, you pathetic weakling? 'Apologize' me away?"

"I'll do whatever I have to." Shinji stated calmly. He felt something burning in his chest, right behind his breastbone. As the sensation spread throughout his body like a wildfire, he felt any fears and doubts he might have had rapidly evaporating. He looked at the doll and saw that its blue button eyes seemed to be flashing with what could have been nothing else but anger. Shinji felt something harden within him, and he met the doll's heated glare with an icy stare of his own. 

"I'll repeat it only once, boy." the Doll hissed menacingly. "Get out of my way... _or else_."

" 'Or else' what?" Shinji asked, his voice calm and serious. "What could you _possibly_ do to me?"

The doll seemed to be taken aback by the sudden question. As it struggled to find an answer, Shinji hazarded a quick glance at Asuka to make sure she was alright. She was still on the ground, with eyes shut tight and her hands were still covering her ears. He suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to rush over immediately and try to comfort her any way he could, but he knew that he had to take care of the _bigger_ problem before any comfort might be found for either of them.

Having turned back to face the doll, Shinji missed Asuka opening her eyes. "Shinji...?" she said upon seeing him, her voice less than a whisper. Several emotions began stirring within her. She identified one as relief on account that she was not alone, as the doll had said. At the same time she also identified that she felt ashamed that she was being protected by _Shinji_ of all people. The others she either didn't care to put a name to, or couldn't.

Since the doll could not seem to come up with an answer to his question, Shinji provided his own. "You can't do anything to me." he said, his voice still calm and clear. "You have no power but those of a lie, and I choose not to believe it. I know better than that."

The doll stumbled backwards, as if it had been struck by some invisible force. Its form shuddered and wavered, then disappeared into nothingness as the corridor began to do the same.

Shinji spun around to see Asuka back in a kneeling position, looking at him in a thoughtful manner. Shinji opened his mouth to say something to her, but found he could not think of anything appropriate. The world had begun its return to the Void, and Asuka slowly faded from his sight.

* M * I * N * D *

Apache let out a tired yawn, breaking the near-silence of the room.

The young turned back to face his companion, a hurt expression on his face.

"Hey, it wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" he asked, innocently.

Apache wasn't very forthcoming with a response. 

"You _could_ help, you know." the young man said, turning back to his computer screen. "That last part _wasn't_ easy. I'm open to any input you might..." He was interrupted by the sound of Apache's snoring.

"Err... Right..." the young man replied, feeling more than a bit sheepish. "I get the message. Back to work."

+ G + A + M + E + S +

Asuka yawned as she sat up on her futon. She felt well-rested, a feeling she rarely experienced. '_Was last night just a strange dream?_' she wondered as she stretched and climbed to her feet. She remembered talking to Shinji, but after that it was kind of fuzzy... something about him protecting her... or was it? She just couldn't remember clearly. 

"Shinji?" she said aloud, feeling a little ridiculous. "Are you there?" No answer came.

"What was I thinking?" she asked, letting out a sigh. A person couldn't have their awareness removed from their body and put in another, it was impossible. She must have dreamt everything because of her guilt over Shinji getting hurt. At that thought, the image of Shinji laying in the med-tank with all the tubes and wires flashed through her mind. The depression she had felt last night returned with a vengeance. 

She headed for the bathroom, hoping a shower might cleanse her of at least some of her troubles.

+ M + I + N + D +

The silence was once again disturbed by the sound of a yawn. The young man paused his work to look over at his friend. 

"Did you have a nice nap?" he asked sarcastically. Apache merely grinned in response, causing the young man to roll his eyes in disgust as he returned his attention to the monitor in front of him.

* G * A * M * E * S *

To say Shinji was disoriented would be an understatement. The sudden implosion of everything back to the Void left him reeling and incapable of thinking anything but '_I'm gonna be sick_.'

At last things settled down enough for him to recover and get his bearings."What was all _that_ about?" he wondered aloud. "Could...could it have been Asuka's dream?" 

The thought seemed plausible enough, given his current situation. What else could explain it? He certainly couldn't come up with anything better at the moment. He felt a little guilty over invading something so private to Asuka, but he'd had very little say in the matter. In afterthought, perhaps he shouldn't have interfered with what had happened... but he still didn't feel that he could simply stand by and do nothing while Asuka was suffering, though he couldn't fully explain as to _why_ he felt that way.

Discarding that train of thought for a more serious one, Shinji began to ponder on what could possibly be done to get him back in his own brain. He quickly came to the conclusion that nothing could be done without Asuka's aid, which meant he had to try talking to her again. It was not a task he really relished the thought of. She had gotten upset the last time he'd done it, after they began feeling each others emotions.

'_Maybe there's a way around that?_' Shinji wondered. Maybe... but until he found one he had to try and keep his own emotions under control and hope for the best.

Willing the "door" to open, he stepped across the threshold...

* M * I * N * D *

The young man sighed heavily. "Initiating second confrontation." he commented, not looking away from the monitor. "Subject of mental/emotional contamination introduced. Further explanation pending."

The young man knuckles his eyes and yawns, as if fighting to keep awake. "Proceeding with second encounter."

- G - A - M - E - S -

Asuka turned off the water with a sigh. The warm shower had felt quite soothing, and let her forget her problems, for a few moments anyway. She wrapped a towel around herself, and was in the process of putting one around her head when something happened to startle her immensely.

"Er, Asuka?" Shinji's voice called out to her. "I think we need to talk..."

Asuka leapt a full foot into the air. When she landed, she looked around to see where the peeping Shinji might be hiding. 

"Asuka?" Shinji called out again, worried that something might be wrong.

Not finding a Shinji to clobber, Asuka came to the conclusion that either (_a_) she was _really_ hearing voices and should check herself into a room with padded walls or (_b_) the part about Shinji talking to her from inside her head _wasn't_ really a dream, in which case she had no idea what to do about it.

It took a few minutes, but she managed to calm down enough to answer. "Shinji?" she whispered, not wanting for Misato to overhear her again.

"The one and only." Shinji answered. "Everything alright?"

"No, you pervert, everything is _not_ alright!" Asuka hissed angrily. 

"Er...What's wrong?" Shinji asked, surprised at her vehemence.

"I just got out of the _shower_, you idiot!" Asuka replied, further annoyed by his seeming ignorance.

"Sorry..." Shinji said, though he managed to maintain control over his feelings of guilt. "But, Asuka, you realize I can't _see_ anything, don't you?"

"You can't?" Asuka asked after a few moments of silence, her curiosity overruling her apparently unjustified anger.

"I left my eyes in my other body." Shinji replied as way of explanation.

Again there was a moment of silence before either "said" anything more. "You can't use mine?" Asuka finally asked. 

Asuka smiled as she felt Shinji's surprise at the suggestion. "I... I never thought of trying that." he said. "I'd have to figure out how to do that first, but ... would you... er... mind if I did?"

After yet another brief period of silence, Asuka answered. "As long as you asked me first, I guess there wouldn't be any harm in it."

"Gee, thanks Asuka." Shinji said, somewhat... cheerfully? Asuka thought that she must have been imagining things. "That's awful nice of you. But... uh... That's not really what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Lemme guess..." Asuka said, "What are we going to do to get you out of my head and back into your own brain, right?"

"Er... yes, that about covers it..." Shinji replied, feeling slightly at a loss. "How'd you guess?"

"You really think I want to be stuck with you in my head for the rest of my life?" Asuka asked sarcastically.

She felt Shinji... _smile?!_ "Do you really think _I _want to be stuck in _your_ head for the rest of your life?" he asked, sounding just as sarcastic as Asuka had.

There was a pause as Asuka gathered her wits about her. "Well, what have you come up with so far?" she finally asked.

"Excuse me?" came Shinji's puzzled reply. He became aware of feelings of frustration and an intense urge to hit something or someone. He recognized that it was coming from Asuka and realized that, if he hadn't been sharing her body, she'd be giving him a rather thorough beating right now. 

'_Is that why she hits me?_' he wondered, '_Because she simply can't resist this violent 'impulse' she feels? Not that I blame her, it feels pretty powerful to me... but I never realized she felt like this._' 

"What have you come up with to get you back in your own body?" Asuka growled from between clenched teeth.

Snapping his attention to the matter being discussed, Shinji realized he hadn't really thought of any ways to fix the problem, only that he needed to discuss it with Asuka. "Er... well... you see, Asuka..."

"You haven't come up with _anything_?!" Asuka stated in disbelief. "What the hell did you do all last night?"

"Er... uh... well.... you see..." Shinji faltered, not wanting to reveal the fact he had been an inadvertent participant in her dream if she didn't remember it.

"You mean you still have to sleep even when you don't have a body?" Asuka asked, before he could stutter out an answer.

"Er... something like that." Shinji replied. It wasn't a lie, he _had_ been in her dream. It _had_ been _her_ dream, hadn't it? Could he possibly have created it? The thought only just occurred to him now. Dreaming is what the mind did while the body rested... in a way, dreaming was the mind's way of resting. Since Shinji wasn't much _more_ than a mind at the moment, was it possible for him to still dream?

He stopped that line of pondering immediately, as it was likely that the emotions surrounding it would leak through to Asuka, giving him away.

"Oh..." Asuka said, "So you don't have any ideas as to how to get out?"

"Well... we could try asking Ritsuko or Misato for help..." Shinji suggested.

"One problem though," Asuka replied, "How do we prove that you're really inside my head? I can't just walk up to them and say 'Shinji's mind got ripped from his body, took up residence in my brain and has been talking to me' without some way of proving it."

"I see your point." Shinji conceded. 

They lapsed into a thoughtful silence for a while before either spoke again. Shinji was the one that spoke up first. "We might not need to tell anyone... maybe we can solve this on our own."

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked, intrigued.

Again, she thought she felt Shinji smile, though it was less pronounced this time. "I've got an idea." he replied.

  
  
  
  
  
  


*** WARNING! ***  
The following message has little to do with the rest of the story...  
It is just the ranting of the author. Please excuse this interruption.

_Author Notes:_

Before you review and say how Asuka was way off character in the dream, remember, it wasn't the Asuka we all know and love, it was her subconscious mind. During synchronization, remember the point when Shinji starts leaning in to kiss her? A tear rolls down her cheek and she says "Momma." I took it to mean that she isn't able to hide from her fears and her memories while she dreams. We really can't run from ourselves while we dream, as Asuka probably has to deal with her demons on a nightly basis, though most likely she doesn't remember things by the time morning comes around.  
Shinji's characterization in the dream seems to be way off as well, but if you remember, he recently determined he would try to stop being spineless without outside(inside?) help. Also, its always much easier to face someone else's fear rather than facing your own. 

Sorry this part was so short, but I'll be leaving for the weekend, and wanted to post chapter three before I left. Next part should be as long as the first two were.

If you liked it, I'm glad and sincerely hope you feel that its worthy of leaving a review behind. If you didn't... flame me, call me names, insult my parentage, prank call me in the middle of the nigh...but at least let me know!!!!!


	4. Part Fourth

**+ Mind + Games +**

_Part Fourth_

  
  
  
  


"Well... we could try asking Ritsuko or Misato for help..." Shinji suggested.

"One problem though," Asuka replied, "How do we prove that you're really inside my head? I can't just walk up to them and say 'Shinji's mind got ripped from his body, took up residence in my brain and has been talking to me' without some way of proving it."

"I see your point." Shinji conceded. 

They lapsed into a thoughtful silence for a while before either spoke again. Shinji was the one that spoke up first. "We might not need to tell anyone... maybe we can solve this on our own."

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked, intrigued.

Again, she thought she felt Shinji smile, though it was less pronounced this time. "I've got an idea." he replied.

- M - I - N - D -

"Thermal expansion?" the young man quipped without looking away from the screen.

Apache groaned at the _very_ poor attempt at a joke.

The young man let out a long sigh. "You're right... I'm really not cut out for humor, am I?"

The young man took a deep breath and explosively exhaled, still facing the monitor. "Sorry Shinji, but I doubt physics is going to be able to do the trick this time..."

* G * A * M * E * S *

"Asuka!" Misato's voice called out, causing Asuka to jump slightly in surprise. Shinji's idea would have to wait. She just hoped he wouldn't forget it before they had another chance to talk.

"What is it? I just got out of the shower!"

"Since you're feeling better, you still have to go to school today." Misato said. She looked at Pen-Pen, who had already begun the countdown with his claws. _Five... four... three... two... one..._

"**WHAT** **did you say?!?!?**" came the towel-garbed redhead's reply. It was plain to see that she was less than happy with the news. In all seriousness, she looked infuriated.

_'We have temper-tantrum....I repeat, we have temper-tantrum_.' Misato thought to herself. "I said 'since you're feeling better...' "

"WHY?!?" Asuka interrupted, "Right after an Angel attack? That's crazy, Misato!! Not to mention just plain _stupid_!"

"The Board of Education feels that its best for students to maintain as normal a routine as possible." Misato lectured..

"But..."

Misato placed her hands on her hips and gave Asuka a I'll-tolerate-no-nonsense-from you-right-now look. "There's no buts about it, Asuka. Its better for you than moping around here all day, anyway."

Asuka sighed mentally. '_There isn't gonna be any way around this is there?_' 

"I doubt it." came Shinji's reply. "She seems to be in "superior officer" mode, its much easier to just go along with it before she makes it an official order."

Asuka grudgingly agreed, but she felt that she didn't have to be happy about it. She stalked off to her room to get ready for school.

+ M + I + N + D +

The young man pauses in his typing as a thoughtful look appears in his eyes.

"I wonder if Asuka ever used the excuse 'An angel ate my homework' to get out of an assignment?" he muses aloud, then returns to work.

- G - A - M - E - S -

"_That's_ your idea?" Asuka asked aloud, sounding highly critical. Thankfully, the street was completely devoid of both traffic and people, or else Asuka would have been the object of every passerby's bewildered stares.

"Well, it's the best I could come up with." Shinji said defensively. "Have you thought of anything better?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure I will." Asuka shot back, almost growling.

"I hope so." Shinji said, surprising her. She knew he wasn't lying, as she could feel his heartfelt sincerity along with his words, and it confused her a little. "Asuka, remember not to answer out loud. You don't want to be given away, do you?" he commented.

"I never thought carrying on a sub-vocalized conversation could be so frustratingly irritating." Asuka thought/spoke; her lips, tongue and vocal chords moving almost imperceptibly. 

"I... I'm sorry Asuka." Shinji apologized, crestfallen. "I didn't realize I was bothering you... Call me if you want to talk some more later..."

Again, Asuka felt the presence of her roommate suddenly disappear. She felt an urge to call him back, but she decided against it. They'd talk more later, she told herself, it wasn't as if he were going anywhere else. She completed the rest of the walk to school in silence.

She plunked down in her seat with a quiet sigh. There was no sign of the other two stooges, and Hikari was currently talking with Yuriko Mitsumishia, and had not seen that Asuka had arrived yet.

Though she had felt well rested when she woke up this morning, Asuka now felt quite tired, though she couldn't figure out why. She just didn't have the energy to join in gossip and idle chit-chat at the moment. She pillowed her head with her arms on the desk and let her mind wander.

'_Why did Shinji run away like that?_' she pondered. '_Was it what I said? I thought he'd learned to take a joke, by his actions earlier. What caused him to get so sensitive all of a sudden?_ _It just doesn't make any sense... one moment he's shooting back just as good as he gets, and the next he's... well, he's acting like he normally did not too long ago. Why?_'

"Hey, Asuka." Hikari's voice tore Asuka from her thinking. Looking over at her friend, Asuka smiled weakly.

"Good morning, Hikari." she greeted the class representative. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Asuka." Hikari replied, though she sounded concerned for some reason. "But how are you? I know there was an attack yesterday. When you didn't call me that evening, I started to worry about you."

'_Good old Hikari._' Asuka thought to herself with a slight smile. '_Always worrying about everyone else._'

"I'm fine, Hikari." she assured her friend. "I was... I was just so tired afterwards, that I forgot to call."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Hikari said. 

Asuka smiled confidently. "Of course I'm okay! I'm Asuka Langley Sorhyu, EVA pilot extraordinaire!!"

Hikari found her friend's smile and confidence infectious, and grew a smile of her own. "You're right Asuka, how silly of me to be worried."

Though Asuka had fooled Hikari with her words of self-confidence, they echoed hollowly to her soul. '_Yeah, you're so extraordinary that Shinji had to get himself hurt pulling your fat out of the fire._' A little voice in the back of her mind mocked. She did her best to silence it, but the memory of it wouldn't easily fade.

Hikari went on to fill Asuka in on the latest in class gossip. Asuka listened, but only commented passively, since her mind was distracted by other things. 

"Asuka, where's Shinji?" Hikari asked after a few minutes. "He's going to be late if he doesn't get here soon."

"He... He won't be coming today." Asuka told her. '_At least not physically._' she added mentally.

"Oh..." Hikari said, feeling it best, by the sound of Asuka's voice, to let the matter drop. Seconds later the teacher arrived, and Hikari performed her daily duty as the class rep. "Everybody, stand. Bow. Sit down." The elderly teacher began taking the morning's roll call.

Asuka settled in for yet another boring day of tuning out elderly teacher who continued to prattle on about the days before Second Impact. Soon she was staring blankly at the fascinating screen-saver that had come up on her laptop's screen. 

Some indeterminate time later, Asuka thought she heard the music of a stringed instrument coming from somewhere. She quickly glanced around and noticed that none of the other students had seemed to notice it. 'Is it who I think it is?' she wondered.

"Shinji...Are you there Shinji?" She subvocalized, careful not to make a sound or any obvious lip movements. The music stopped, and she soon felt Shinji's presence in her head.

"Asuka? Was there something you wanted?" he asked.

"I heard cello music a few seconds ago... Did you have anything to do with that?" she queried.

"Er... Sorry, I just learned how to create things in here. I thought I'd get a little practice in. I'll stop if its bothering you."

Asuka replied quickly for fear he'd be gone again. "No, it didn't bother me any, Shinji. Actually it was rather nice. Much more interesting than listening to that old fossil of a teacher or watching the fish swimming back and forth on my screen."

She thought she felt Shinji smile slightly. "I guess even _my_ playing can't be as bad as having to pay attention to those things." he said. "So, you use the fish tank screensaver? The mystique has always been my personal favorite."

"Do you realize how old that one is?" Asuka asked, a bit surprised at his preference. "That one predates Second impact by about a decade!"

"I guess I'm just a guy with old fashioned tastes." Shinji replied.

"I'd have never have pegged you as one of those."Asuka told him. She couldn't help but smile. She was glad he was acting less like a wimp again. She found it much easier to talk to him when he was like this for some reason. "What song were you playing, anyway?"

Asuka felt Shinji grow uncomfortable from the question. "I... I wasn't really playing anything." he said. "I was just... well, playing what felt right, I guess."

"You mean you were just making it up as you go along?" Asuka asked, a little surprised.

"Er... yeah, I guess that's one way of putting it." Shinji replied.

"It was pretty nice." she told him. 

Though she felt them, she could not understand Shinji's feelings of embarrassment and uncertainty that followed her words. '_What could have possibly brought that on?' _she wondered briefly. '_All I did was compliment him... Is that what made him react like that? Why?_'

It was a while before either spoke again. Finally, Asuka broke the wall of silence between them. "Could you play some more?" she asked.

Shinji was quite surprised by her request. "S-sure I'll play. If its alright with you, that is..."

Asuka bit her lip in agitation. "I asked, didn't I?"

She felt another flush of embarrassment from Shinji. "Any requests?" he asked.

"Not really." Asuka replied. "Doing what you were doing earlier would be fine."

"O-okay." Shinji said.

Shinji's cello once more began to sing its gentle song into the ears of Asuka's mind. Despite his claim that it was completely random, Asuka felt that Shinji's music had a definite form and melody to it. It made her think of pictures of clouds floating in the clear sky, riding on its blue winds. It was quite relaxing, really, causing Asuka to release tensions she wasn't even aware she was holding.

Unconsciously, Asuka began to think/play her violin in accompaniment to the music. Though a bit surprised by it, Shinji continued to play without being thrown by it. It wasn't too hard, he'd later reflect... She played an excellent counterpoint; the strong, vibrant song of her violin giving new life and form to the melody. As they played, their two songs gradually attuned to one another, each forming the perfect compliment to the other. Though they showed no semblance of any harmonizing motion, the two melodies somehow naturally fit together.

The sound of the lunch bell brought the mental duet to a startled halt. Apparently, neither had kept track of time, and lunch had crept up on them. Asuka's attention snapped back to reality. 

"I assume you don't have a lunch today, huh?" came Hikari's voice from beside her.

Asuka turned to her friend. "No," she replied. 

Hikari smiled warmly. "You're in luck." she said. "I packed more than enough for two today. Would you like to share?"

"Hikari," Asuka said with a relieved smile, "You're a true friend."

"I...I'll leave you two alone now." Shinji's voice echoed in her mind, then vanished along with the feeling of his presence. Asuka felt strange with him being gone from her conscious mind. It was as if a part of something suddenly wasn't there any more. 

She shrugged off as she got to her feet. "Let's eat."

- M - I - N - D -

The dark bedroom was slowly filling with the grey light of day's dawning. As he had done many times already, the young man yawned as he extended his arms skywards in a lazy stretch. He rubbed at the sleep creeping into his dry eyes and returned his deadened stare to the screen in front of him.

"Emotional connection developments in subject Asuka now confirmed." he reported with a weary sigh. "Cerebral digestion process suspected to be imminent due to the recent appearance of several symptoms, though further clarification is required for proper diagnosis. Proceeding to observe subject Shinji's reactions."

+ G + A + M + E + S +

Shinji felt strange after returning to the quiet void of Asuka's brain... Though he tried to put a label to the feeling, he found that he really could not classify it. Giving up after a few minutes of struggling stubbornly to fit the emotion into a category, Shinji's thoughts moved on to less structured matters.

_Asuka..._ She sure knew how to play a violin well. Shinji couldn't remember a time when he'd had more fun with music. 

Their little duet had been a truly amazing experience for him. For the first time in long while, Shinji felt truly connected to another human being. Sure, he was inside her brain and everything, but even then, he still felt he lacked the feeling of being connected closely to another human being. After she had joined him with her violin, though, something changed. He'd felt... joined somehow, on some sort of spiritual/emotional level with Asuka. It was rather... pleasant, actually; while it had lasted anyway. And now...

...And now he missed it. '_Funny,_' he thought to himself, '_You really can't appreciate what you've never experienced, and once have experienced those things, you learn to really notice its absence._'

Sighing, Shinji shook his head slowly. His luck being as it was, he'd never feel that way again. Trying not to get depressed over that particular epiphany, he reminded himself that it had been awful nice while it had lasted, though that was a _very_ small comfort. 

"I wonder..." Shinji mused aloud, trying to turn his thoughts completely away of such thoughts, "How long are they gonna take for lunch?"

+ M + I + N + D +

"Significant emotional connection development in subject Shinji has been confirmed." the young man reports as he scratches the side of his head absently. "Subject Shinji shows no sign of being affected by cerebral digestion, nor does the subject appear aware of the possibility."

+ G + A + M + E + S +

"So..." Hikari began soon after they had settled into their regular spot for lunch. "What had you smiling so dreamily during class today?"

Asuka stopped in mid-bite and looked over at her friend. Slowly lowering the food away from her mouth, she answered, "What do you mean?" 

"You can't fool me, Asuka." Hikari chided, a playful grin on her face. "I saw you. You were most definitely _not_ paying attention to class, and you had that same misty look in your eye that you get when you talk about that guy Kaji."

Asuka's eyes widened slightly from surprise. '_Was I....was I really acting like that?_' she wondered. 

Hikari continued, "I've never seen you act like that. It was as if you were off in your own little world."

Asuka frowned as she turned herself inward. '_I'll admit making music with Shinji's mind was pleasant, but... to behave like a grinning idiot like that...how... how..._'

"Asuka?" Hikari's voice cut off Asuka's search to find a word to go with the emotion that she felt towards the situation. 

"Are you alright?" her friend asked.

Asuka shook her head slightly as if trying to dislodge the confusing emotions and thoughts by physical force. "Everything's fine." she told Hikari while she was mentally working to convince herself of the same thing.

"Then tell me, already!" Hikari laughed. "Were you fantasizing about someone perhaps?" Hikari's smile grew. "Was it anyone I know?"

Asuka's automated self defense responses began to kick in. "What!? Of course I wasn't doing anything of the sort, Hikari!"

Hikari laughed. "Whatever you say, Asuka." she said, her voice taking on placating tone. She tried to hide her teasing smile, but failed. She so rarely had things like this to joke about with the German girl, and was rather enjoying the moment.

"I wasn't!" Asuka repeated indignantly.

"Then what _was_ it that had you smiling like that?" Hikari asked.

The question summoned up the memories of that strangely pleasant feeling she had felt when she had been making music with Shinji. She remembered how it had felt when the two of them had been interrupted and Shinji had retreated from her consciousness. 

"I was..." Asuka started, her voice sounding distant, "I was thinking about a song."

Hikari blinked. She hadn't expected _that _kind of reaction out of Asuka. It sounded like she was being perfectly honest though. "It must sure be some song, for you to like it _that_ much." she commented after they'd sat in mutual silence for a few moments.

"Yeah..." Asuka said, her voice very soft and sounding even more distant than before. She looked towards the ground and Hikari saw that her eyes looked as if they were trying to see something miles away. "Yeah, I guess it is." 

* M * I * N * D *

"... and now, for something completely different." the young man said with a grin.

+ G + A + M + E + S +

In a place of darkness, around six colored squares of light, sat a gathering of the most powerful men in the world.

"This was not a part of the planned scenario." declared the long needle-nosed man sitting at the yellow-lighted desk. "Nothing of this nature is described in the Dead Sea Scrolls."

"Indeed." commented the visored chairman Keel. "The Thirteenth Angel was not predicted to attack in such a manor."

The broad-shouldered man sitting at the green lighted desk twirled the cigar in his hand thoughtfully. "Hmm. Yes," he said after a few moments contemplation. "But the question is, what does this mean? Are the Dead Sea Scrolls no longer to be trusted?"

Commander Ikari at last spoke up. "If the Enemy that attacked was not as the scrolls described there can be only one solution: that it was not the Thirteenth."

"Explain yourself, Ikari." Keel demanded.

Gendo was unfazed. "It could not have been Bardiel." he replied.

"Your own instruments recognized it as being an Angel!" protested the spider-thin man that sat behind the red desk. "How can you say otherwise?"

Ikari regarded him calmly. "I didn't." he said flatly, with just the slightest trace of arrogance. "I only said that the recent attack was not caused by the Thirteenth Angel. It may very well could have been a different angel."

Gasps came from all board members save for Chairman Keel, whose countenance was made of stuff similar to unyielding granite.

"But... But that's impossible!" stuttered the man with the long needle-like nose.

Commander Ikari smirked from behind his gloves. "Not that long ago, most thought the Katsuragi Super Solenoid Theory was impossible." Gendo remarked. "Nothing is impossible."

"You forget your place Ikari." Keel said gravely.

"I meant no disrespect." Gendo apologized humbly, though there was the nearly undetectable hint of mockery in his voice, assuming you knew where to look for it.

Keel seemed to contemplate him a moment before letting the matter drop and begin speaking again. "The report says the Angel's status is currently unconfirmed."

"We were unable to recover a body, and there was no detonation of an inverted AT field or of a Core." Commander Ikari responded.

"So it still could be out there, somewhere..." the man sitting at the green desk said thoughtfully. 

"Indeed." Gendo replied, his glasses flashing ominously.

"That will be all, Ikari." the Chairman said, voice ringing with finality. "Your presence is not required for the rest of the meeting."

The five members of the SEELE council disappeared into the darkness, leaving Gendo Ikari there alone, illuminated by the light of his desk. 

+ M + I + N + D +

"That was fun." commented the young man. "How's about we try something a bit new, eh?"

* G * A * M * E * S *

There was a glimmer of thought, an then a presence began to take shape. It sent its call into the expanse of the cosmos.

"It is time. A council is required."

One by one, new presences arrived, until where there once was only one, there were now five shining entities, and ten glowing ones.

"All has been made ready."

"Very well, let the council now begin."

There was a brief moment of silence, in respect for the missing two entities.

"One of our number hath violated the foreordained and threatened the sanctity of what has been decreed that must come to past. Arael, what have you to say?"

The bright white entity moved forth to speak.

"I protest that I have _not_, in fact, violated the dictates of the foreordained."

"Explain."

"Though it says that we must each preform our test of the lillim's worthiness by the time appointed to us by the dictates, it is not said that we must do nothing else before this predestined time."

"You twist the words of the prophecy for your own ends!"

The sentiment was echoed among the dimmer glowing entities.

"You close on grounds that could call you a blasphemer, Arael."

"Forgive me, my brothers. But these are the words of the prophecy, I did nothing to change them."

"He's right. Nothing is said that such cannot be done. It might very well ensure us our triumph over the lillim."

"Et tu Bardiel? You realize that a Child now may be lost."

"What does it matter? He is merely a lillim. He can be replaced."

"Can he?' there was a brief pause, as if he expected one of the others to answer him, then continued. "Never mind, I concede the point. This council is at an end."

One by one, the entities vanished, until only two were left.

"Something else, Arael?"

"I recognize your... affection for this particular lillim."

"That is not any of your affair."

"I merely worry for you, brother."

With that the presence vanished.

Returning, he opened his eyes, once again seeing the world filtered through LCL.

_Your worries are unfounded... "brother_." _I can still do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. In the end, the choice **shall** be mine to make._

  
  
  
  



	5. Part Fifth

*** MIND * GAMES ***

_Part Fifth_

  
  


Lunch ended and the afternoon "study" portion of classes began. The elderly teacher often took the afternoons to give the lecturing a rest and let the students work on their assignments for awhile. Despite the absence of his droning voice, class was still about as exciting as watching grass grow. 

Asuka looked blankly at the screen in front of her. She'd been breezing through the questions rather mechanically until a few moments ago, when she'd run into a number of problems that contained Kanji characters she didn't recognize.

'_Stupid chicken-scratch kanji!_' Asuka grumbled mentally, '_How do those idiot Japanese expect anyone to memorize two thousand characters?_'

For a moment she considered asking Shinji to help. A split-second later she completely disregarded her previous impulse out of force of habit.

Shinji sensed her frustration through the barrier that separated their conscious minds. He crossed the threshold and made contact with her. "Is there something wrong Asuka?"

"No." she responded without spending any time to consider her answer.

Shinji still felt frustration coming from her and came to the brilliant conclusion that she wasn't telling him the truth. 

Trying to ignore the feeling of Shinji's presence in her head, Asuka went back to working on the questions in front of her. She wrote down the correct answer to the one she had been stuck on and moved on. As she proceeded to finish the assignment, she noticed something amiss. '_What about the Kanji?_'

Troubled by this sudden epiphany, Asuka looked back over her work and found something amazing. Though the kanji was still there, the characters now made sense to her. '_But how?_'

"What's wrong?" Shinji again asked, having become worried at the emotions storming inside her.

'_Shinji._' Asuka concluded, though _how_ he'd caused it still eluded her. "Nothing's wrong," she subvocalized, trying to brush aside the startling revelation. "I was just frustrated with a homework problem."

"Oh." replied Shinji, though privately he still felt she wasn't telling him the whole truth.

Class continued without much more incident until at last the bell rang to herald that the official school day had ended. Not being on clean-up duty, Asuka prepared to leave. 

"Asuka?" the voice of her friend brought the red-headed German girl up short. She turned to face Hikari, who took it as a signal to continue. "Would you mind walking home with me today?"

"I have to go to Nerv today, but I'll go as far as I can." Asuka replied. 

"I have to oversee some things here so..." Hikari began to explain.

"It's no problem Hikari." Asuka assured her friend. "I have time."

Hikari smiled gratefully. "Thanks Asuka, I really appreciate it."

Asuka sighed after Hikari went to catch a boy hoping to sneak out of cleaning duty. She'd have to stick around a while longer.

"Shinji? You there?" She subvocalized, figuring talking with him might pass the time if nothing else.

"Yeah. I'm here." Shinji said emerging once more from within the recesses of her brain.

"Any luck figuring out how to use my eyes yet?" she asked.

She could feel him grow a bit uncomfortable at the question, though she no longer felt so disconcerted by it as she had the night previous. 

"Well, um, with your permission, Asuka, I'd like to try something I've been thinking about..."Shinji said, and she could tell that he was feeling doubtful about it.

"Go for it" Asuka replied.

Asuka felt Shinji release a sigh. "Alright, here goes." he said.

Asuka felt a slight tingle start somewhere behind her forehead. The sensation gradually traveled forward, until it reached somewhere behind her eyes. Then her eyes began to itch somewhat, but she managed to blink it away.

"Shinji?" She could still feel him there, but he had been silent since the tingling sensation had started.

"I... I think it worked, I'm getting some sort of image." Shinji said. "Try glancing to your left."

Asuka did so. "How about your right?" She complied. "Now, try a random direction." 

Asuka smiled devilishly, thinking of a trick she could play on him.

"Where... Where'd it go?" Shinji asked, sounding a little panicked. "I think I lost it. Everything went dark all of a sudden."

"That's because I closed my eyes, idiot." She informed him, her smile growing. 

"Oh..." he replied. Asuka could feel his embarrassment, though it only served to widen her smile. Neither said anything for a while.

"What did you do?" Asuka asked, curious. This was infinitely more interesting than simply waiting idly for Hikari to complete her duties as class representative.

Shinji explained, "I was concentrating on synchronizing with you...well, your eyes anyway. Then I started to feel something happening, so I focused on your eyes a bit more. Eventually, I got an image."

"I guess all that stupid dancing that Misato had us go through was finally good for something other than beating that Angel." Asuka joked. 

Shinji chuckled softly. "I guess so." 

Their private conversation was cut short by the sudden appearance of Hikari. "My work here is done," the class representative announced, "Are you ready to leave?"

Asuka merely nodded. Both girls said nothing as they left the school grounds and began to walk towards their destinations. The silence gradually grew heavy enough that Asuka decided it was time to break the tension.

"So... Was there something you wanted to talk about?" she asked her best friend. 

Hikari let out a hesitant sigh and waited a moment before speaking. "Touji's a good friend of Shinji's, isn't he?" she finally asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Asuka replied. She had a vague premonition as to where this line of questioning was heading.

Hikari took a deep breath before speaking again. "Do you know if... I mean have you overheard anything... or has Shinji ever said anything to you..."

It was readily apparent that Hikari would take forever to say exactly what she meant, so Asuka decided that a little gentle prodding might be necessary. "Are you asking whether I know if Touji wears boxers or briefs?" Asuka asked in a teasing manner.

"NO!!" Hikari protested loudly.

Asuka grinned. "Then what were you trying to ask?"

Hikari chewed her lip in a moment of hesitation, then at last managed to spit it out. "Do you know if Touji's ever said anything to Shinji... about me?"

"I _thought_ that was what this was going to be about." Asuka said smugly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Hikari asked innocently.

"Your oh-so-obvious crush on Touji Suzahara." Asuka stated matter-of-fact-ly.

Hikari's eyes fell to watching the ground. "Is it really _that_ obvious?" she asked after a few moments of silence. 

"To everyone else except _those_ three stooges." Asuka replied. 

Hikari's cheek's colored slightly as she continued to study the ground passing beneath her feet. "What do you see in a jock like him, anyway?" the German girl asked.

"He's not a jock." Hikari replied quickly in her infatuation's defense. Asuka looked at her friend as one might look at someone when trying to decide if they are merely joking around or if they've completely lost touch with reality. 

Hikari reconsidered her words and decided to amend her previous statement. "He's not just a jock. He's a great guy, Asuka, when you get to know him. The persona he normally displays is really just a facade... In truth, he's actually a very caring, sensitive, compassionate person." 

Asuka resisted the strong urge to wretch audibly, and settled for merely sighing and rolling her eyes. "Whatever you say Hikari." she responded placatingly. "To answer your question, no, I haven't heard either of them talk about you."

Hikari's sigh rang with melancholy. "I see." she replied.

"Hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing." Asuka said in attempt to cheer up her friend. "Boys at this age usually only talk openly about girls in shallow and perverted terms. That _might_ mean Touji actually respects you as a human being."

Hikari released another sigh. "Yeah, I guess so." she said, sounding a bit unconvinced, though not quite as depressed as a few moments prior. She was silent a few moments before a smile stole across her face. "So... Do you really know which it is?" she asked.

"Which is what?" Asuka asked, puzzled.

"Which it is that Touji wears," Hikari explained, her smile having turned fiendish. "You know, boxers or briefs?"

"WHAT?" Asuka half-gagged from shock. 

Hikari laughed happily at seeing her friends reaction. "Turnabout's fair play, Asuka." she pointed out. "You _were_ the one that brought it up in the first place."

"Whatever." Asuka muttered.

"I think your wrong about guys our age, though." Hikari went on, her earlier troubles all but forgotten. "They aren't _all _as bad as you make them out to be."

"Yeah?" Asuka snorted derisively, "Prove it."

"Maybe I will." Hikari responded defiantly as they stopped at a crosswalk. "But not today it seems. This is my turn. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Asuka smiled and nodded in farewell. She managed to take two and a half steps before the sound of Hikari's voice caused her to stop and turn around.

"Asuka, thanks for walking with me today. I really appreciate it." Hikari said, earnest sincerity readily apparent in her eyes and her voice. 

Asuka was touched by this display of emotion from her friend, and yet at the same time felt a little uncomfortable by it. "Anytime, Hikari." she replied, meaning it.

The two girls went their separate ways for the day. Meanwhile, within Asuka's head, Shinji Ikari was mulling over some recent accidentally acquired information.

'_Hikari likes Touji?_' 

* M * I * N * D *

**". . ." **

* G * A * M * E * S *

The glowing from of the angel descended from amidst the clouds, narrowing in on the two EVA units. The EVAs opened fire with their rifles, but to no avail. The angel's AT field seemed to be too strong for the projectiles to penetrate. The angel's glow grew brighter angel unleashed its blinding light. The two Evangelions leapt out of the path of the light just in time, narrowly escaping danger.

The glowing angel corrected its aim, targeting on Unit-02, now hampered by its own umbilical cable. As the angel's glowing aura grew brighter once more, Unit-01 crashed into Unit-02, knocking it to the ground. The blinding light was once more unleashed, engulfing Unit-01, then shortly going on to hit the prostrate form of Unit-02.

The Light ceased as the angel hung in the air, seemingly unaware of the approaching Unit-00. The blue EVA took aim with its positron rifle, and fired at the angel. As the vibrant beam of energy was about to strike the otherworldly being, it vanished from view.

Misato paused the vid-data for what seemed to be the thousandth time. No matter how many times she watched it or from how many angles, it seemed that she'd never find the answers she was looking for. She was losing hope fast.

"What exactly are looking for on those anyway, Misato?" a familiar voice asked. Misato turned around to see Ritsuko standing in the doorway of the room. 

"I don't know." Misato said with a sigh, loading a disc that contained vid-data from yet another camera angle. "I'll tell you when I find it."

"Rough night?" Ritsuko asked, leaning against a nearby desk. 

"Is it that obvious?" Misato asked as she reclined back in her chair, stretching her complaining muscles as she rubbed at her eyes with the back of her right hand.

"If you know what to look for." Ritsuko replied. 

Misato sighed. "I didn't get much sleep last night." she admitted.

"That's understandable." Ritsuko commented sympathetically. "How's Asuka handling it?"

"She had nightmares last night, but she seemed pretty normal this morning." Misato answered. "I just hope this event doesn't affect her ability to pilot."

"Speaking of which, I need her to come in for a synchronization test as soon as possible." Ritsuko told her.

Misato nodded. "What do you expect to find?"

Ritsuko was silent a moment before speaking. "I'm not sure really." she finally admitted. "I hope its nothing serious, but she _was_ hit by the same attack that put Shinji in his present state. We _need_ to see if it had some sort of effect on her as well." She smiled weakly. "Who knows? She might just have the information we need to figure out how to help Shinji."

Misato smiled tiredly at her friend's attempt to cheer her up. She returned her attention to the vidscreen that was currently replaying the battle. It was at the point which displayed Unit-02 being trapped by its own umbilical cable. "Damn cables." Misato swore as she switched the data to play in slow motion. "They really reduce the effectiveness of the EVAs. If it weren't for them..."

"The EVAs would be limited to five minutes of action before switching backup batteries." Ritsuko finished for her. "Though we might not have to worry about the umbilical cables for much longer. The U.S. branch of NERV was scheduled to commence testing of the prototype S2 engine in Unit-04 today. I don't know what's happening exactly, though, because of the chaos this last attack has caused. Its probably been postponed."

'_The Super Solenoid engine..._' Misato reflected, '_One of my father's greatest dreams. An unlimited energy source... derived from the Angels... can it really be trusted, or are we again tampering with things we can't fully understand?_'

While she contemplated this, the vidscreen showed Angel's light engulfing both Units-01 and -02, causing them to writhe in agony. 

* M * I * N * D *

**"...?"**

+ G + A + M + E + S +

The faint hum of electrical equipment and the steady beat of the heart monitor were the predominant sounds in the room. Silently, the pale female form watched over the boy that lay in the med-tank., connected to various instruments of machinery, of which were standing their own vigil over the fallen EVA pilot.

Had anyone been watching, they might have noticed that Rei had not moved significantly from the moment she took up her seat at Shinji's bedside. She had not even blinked an eye or twitched a muscle since sitting down. She was determined to be at his side when he awoke.

It did not appear that he was going to do so today. He had changed about as much as she had since her arrival, and still looked no different from what he had during her visit the day previous. A quick glance towards the monitors told her there had been no biological change in his condition either.

"Ikari..." Though little more than a whisper, it was the first sound she had made in hours. 

'_Why do I feel this strange... attachment to him?_' she wondered. '_He is my colleague and a fellow teammate... but that is not the full extent of my feelings towards him. What urges me to wait at his bedside like this? I... I am unfamiliar with such feelings._'

That wasn't entirely true, Rei realized as she watched Shinji's chest rise and fall. During the attack of the twelfth, she had grown deeply worried as to his welfare. Hearing the mocking words of the Second Child as they waited to commence the bombing operation had stirred anger within her, reminding her of the way she had felt when she had slapped Shinji for his disrespectful remarks about the Commander.

Shinji had returned from that prison of shadow, though, despite the odds against him. She had waited at his bedside while he was recovering that time as well, wanting herself to be there when he awoke, though no more sure of her reasons than she was currently. 

'_Will... Will he return this time as well?_' Rei wondered. His prison now was even less tangible as the one he had freed himself from before, making it that much more formidable.

'_He will.' _she decided, putting her faith in him. He was not his father, the Commander, but he was not totally unlike his sire. He would return. '_But... What will happen when he does?_'

+ M + I + N + D +

  
  


**"?"**

**"...!"**

+ G + A + M + E + S +

'_Nearly there,_' Asuka thought privately as she turned down one of the various hallways in the NERV Geofront medical Facilities, '_I wonder if this crazy idea of Shinji's will actually work?_'

Though she had boasted that she could come up with a better plan, Asuka had found the task harder than she had expected. Despite all her education, she was still stumped as to how to go about getting Shinji back in his own body.

"We're almost there." she subvocalized to her mental passenger.

"I know." Shinji told her, "I checked using your eyes just a minute ago."

"Oh." was Asuka's reply. A small part of her wanted to get mad at him for using them without her permission, but the only problem was that he already _had_ her permission. It was _his_ choice not to use them for more than short intervals. "I didn't even feel anything, that time." she commented.

"I don't want to be a bother." Shinji explained. "I was trying to be as non-invasive as I could."

"Shinji, why not use my sight all the time?" Asuka asked after a moment. "Wouldn't that be easier on you."

To her surprise, she felt Shinji get uncomfortable by the suggestion. "I'm not so sure Asuka." he said. "It... It's kinda weird, to be completely honest with you."

"How so?"

"It's a bit hard to describe really." Shinji said after pausing to think about how to answer. "It's very different from what I'm used to."

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked. "I have 20/20 vision, same as you. It shouldn't be all _that_ different..."

"Everything _is_ different, though." Shinji answered. "Nothing looks quite like I remember it looking. I... I think it might be because people see the world in their own way, each person having their own perspective on how the world is."

"I think I'm missing the picture." Asuka said, not exactly sure what Shinji was trying to say.

"The classroom, for instance." Shinji continued. "I had a little trouble recognizing it at first. It didn't seem to be the exact room I associated with the one I've been attending class in. Certain details were missing, and the general look of the room felt different to me somehow. I knew it was our classroom, but it still _felt_ different because..."

"Because you were looking at it through _my_ eyes and _my_ perspective." Asuka finished for him as she caught on. "You're right. _Having_ to see the world through someone else's perspective does sound like it'd be a little weird. I guess it's pretty uncomfortable, huh?"

"It's not so bad, really." Shinji replied. "It was kind of easy to get used to, really. But I feel like I'm infringing on your privacy even more than I already am."

She hadn't thought of it that way. By using her eyes, he might discover things about her that she didn't want anyone to know about... What was the saying? 'The eyes are windows to the soul' or something like that. By seeing through her eyes it was possible that he was able to catch glimpses of the darkest corners of her being, places she didn't even realize existed. 

'_Did he realize that, though?_' Asuka wondered. '_Or was it just a semi-conscious sort of thing that he'd rationalize by claiming "it just felt wrong"? If he doesn't realize it, and eventually does, would he... would he take advantage of it?_' 

She didn't like the thought of someone being able to use her own "self" against her like that. For some reason, it made her skin crawl.

What bothered her _more,_ though was the feeling that inside she knew the answer would be no, Shinji would do no such thing. That conclusion meant something very scary to Asuka, something she had avoided since she had been seven years of age. It meant that Asuka trusted Shinji, on a level of intimacy she had not previously been aware of being possible between two different beings.

As she had done countless times before with others like it, she shoved the offending train of thought down into the dark recesses of her subconscious, and forgot about it. 

Moments later, they were standing in front of the room that contained Shinji's body. Asuka stood there a moment, feeling inexplicably tense. 

"What's wrong, Asuka?" Shinji asked, having sensed her sudden discomfort.

"We're there." Asuka said aloud in a quiet voice.

"Er..yeah... so?" Shinji asked, feeling confused. '_I thought she would be overjoyed at the prospect of getting rid of me._' he thought to himself. '_Why is she acting so strangely all of a sudden?_'

'_Why do I feel so... nervous about this?_' Asuka asked herself. '_If anyone should be nervous, it'd be Shinji... but its my own emotion, not something coming from him._'

'_Am I nervous that it might not work?_' she wondered, then quickly discarded the idea. '_But what, then? Could it be that I'm worried about what happens... about what happens if... if it _does_ work?_'

Despite the part of her that stubbornly screamed that it wasn't true, she knew it was. "Why?" she asked herself, her voice barely above a whisper.

'_Stop it!_' she scolded herself mentally. '_Stop acting like an idiot and get this stupid thing over with._'

"Asuka," Shinji said, worried about the feelings of conflict, distress and anger that were emanating her all at once. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she snapped audibly. "Are you ready?"

"Y-yes..." he replied, surprised at her sudden change in addressing him.

Steeling herself, Asuka clenched her hands into fists and gritted her teeth, then made the final step towards the door. The steel panel slid open with a pneumatic hiss revealing Shinji laying motionless in the med-tank, wires and tubes running from him into various IV bags and machines...

... and Rei Ayanami sitting beside him in a chair, apparently watching the comatose Shinji as he slept.

'_What's she doing here?_' Asuka wondered, surprised to see the First Child. '_Has she been here all day? She wasn't at school today..._'

Rei turned her head slowly to face the doorway. "Pilot Sorhyu." she acknowledged the Second Child in the quiet voice of hers, then turned back to her silent contemplation of the comatose boy.

"Great." Asuka muttered under her breath. "Just great."

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

Asuka ground her teeth in frustration. "Take a look for yourself." she subvocalized.

A second of silence followed as Shinji accessed Asuka's eyes. "Rei!" he said with a mix of surprise and pleasure. 

'_He's happy to see her?_' Asuka thought to herself, feeling a little disturbed by this prospect. '_I know I teased him a couple times in the past about it, but I didn't... I didn't know he had... those kind of feelings towards her..._'

"Pilot Sorhyu?" Rei asked, pulling Asuka from her contemplations and brought her to look the pale pilot of Unit-00 directly in the eyes. "Is there something you wanted?"

Asuka was taken aback by the question and had a little difficulty answering it. "I... I came... I came to see Shinji." She at last stated, hating how hesitant and unsure she sounded. 

Rei held Asuka's eyes unwaveringly. "Why?" she asked.

"To see if he'd gotten any better, of course." Asuka said trying to force a pleasant voice and only narrowly succeeding. '_Why does wondergirl always behave so superior like that? The way she speaks... its like she's talking down to me or something._'

"His condition has not changed since his arrival here." Rei informed her.

A tense silence followed, consuming an eternity of nearly three minutes. Finally Asuka decided that Rei would never take a subtle hint, and there probably wasn't any polite way to go about what she needed to do next. "Can I have a few moments alone with him?" Asuka asked, though it did not sound very much like a question.

"What for?" Rei asked, her voice picking up a very subtle hint of curiosity.

"I..." Asuka was at a loss for a plausible reason. "I... I have some things I need to tell him about."

Rei's head tilted slightly to one side. "He is in a deep coma. It is unlikely that he'd your words." she said.

"Its not so really important that he hears them, but rather that I say them to him." Asuka explained, making it up as she went along.

Rei head tilted questioningly again. "And you cannot say them while I'm in the room?"

"Well... its... er... private." Asuka fumbled, hoping that Rei bought it.

Rei studied Asuka a moment before responding. "I see. I'll leave then." Rei stood up and walked from the room without another word. The door hissed shut behind her.

Asuka sighed in relief. Dealing with Rei was normally a vexing experience at best, but this went above and beyond what she thought she was capable of. It was not a situation she hoped to repeat in the near future.

"Let's get to work, shall we?" She asked her cranial cargo.

"Uh... er... okay." came Shinji's reply.

She approached the opened med-tank where Shinji's body lay in near death-like sleep. "Remember, this more of an experiment than anything else." Shinji reminded her.

"I know." she responded. "So the first thing was to establish physical contact?"

"Seeing that I didn't jump into my body as soon as we entered the room, yes." Shinji answered.

Asuka gingerly picked up his limp hand and clasped it in hers, careful not to disturb the IV tubes. She shivered slightly at the contact, as his limb felt heavy and devoid of life. "You still there?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yeah." Shinji replied. "Time for Plan B. I'm going to try and remove myself from your brain."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Asuka asked, a little worried, and not just for her personal safety. 

Shinji gave a wry laugh. "I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, Asuka, but are there really any other options that don't involve me being trapped in your head for eternity?"

"I guess not." Asuka sighed. "Fire when ready."

From inside her head, Shinji focused everything he had into opening a "door" like he had when he'd first made contact with Asuka's active mind. Since he could move from the void of her brain to the her active mind through a "door", he might be able to remove himself completely from Asuka's head.

He focused every ounce of will into breaching the barrier that trapped his consciousness within Asuka's body. At first, it was as if he were trying to move a mountain, a disheartening exercise in futility. He was almost ready to give up, when he began to notice the barrier give ever so slightly. 

Encouraged, he redoubled his efforts, hoping against hope that this might actually work. Slowly, he was making progress. For a moment, the barrier seemed nearly ready to give way completely, but then something happened to stop any further progress. It was as if he'd hit an impenetrable wall all of a sudden. 

Hoping he might push beyond this, too, if only he tried harder, Shinji continued to try and force an opening. Unfortunately, his efforts were met with something quite the opposite of the desired effect. The harder he pushed, the more the barrier strengthened itself and forced him to lose the ground he'd fought so hard to gain. It was useless, he decided after his efforts continued to fail and seemingly turn against him. He let go of his concentration, and the barrier snapped back to its original position.

"It's just no use..." Shinji lamented.

"It didn't work?" Asuka asked, recovering from the pains of a major headache she had suffered during Shinji's attempt to free himself.

"No." Shinji replied. He noticed Asuka was feeling tired and aching from something, causing him to immediately worry. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She answered. "I just got a slight headache when you tried to get free, that's all."

"I... I'm sorry, Asuka..." Shinji apologized. He felt horrible for having caused her pain, though unsure how to express in words how upset, sad, guilty, and bad it made him feel.

Words were not necessary, though, as Asuka felt those emotions resonating from him. "Look, I'm alright, okay?" She told him. "Forget about it. It was no big deal."

Shinji of course could not just let it go. "I didn't know it would affect you, Asuka... I..."

Asuka growled in frustration, cutting him short. "Look, I said I was alright." she said. "Neither of us knew what was going to happen, but we had to try. I'm not blaming you for anything so you might as well stop blaming yourself, because its making me sick."

"I'm sor..." he stopped in the middle of the word, realizing what he was about to say would likely anger her further. "I... I guess you're right."

Asuka smiled slightly. "Of course I'm right." She replied. Sitting down in the chair Rei had used, Asuka let out a sigh. "So... what do we do now?" she asked after an uncomfortable moment of silence passed between them.

"I... I'm not sure." Shinji answered, feeling at a loss. "I can't think of what we possibly can do next without outside help."

"Oh well..." Asuka sighed, "I guess we're going to be stuck like this for awhile longer."

Shinji expected to feel anger, frustration, annoyance or anything but what he _did_ feel coming from Asuka.

"You're not angry about this?" he asked, not believing it for a moment. 

"I... I guess I'm not all _that_ upset by this arrangement..." she replied, carefully. "At least not as upset as I _should_ be, anyway."

Shinji marveled at this. '_How can this be possible?_' he asked himself. _'I thought she'd be furious if this failed to work... but she isn't. She... She's actually being nice about this. But... but why? What's making her act like this?_'

Recognizing it as a mystery he'd likely never puzzle out, he filed the question away for later pondering. '_Maybe..._' he thought to himself, '_Maybe later I'll... I'll _ask_ her why she's behaving so strangely..._'

  
  


Asuka was pondering her own questions as well. '_Should I be upset that this didn't work?_' she wondered. '_I don't feel all that upset... but maybe that's because I didn't ever fully expect it to work in the first place. Even so, shouldn't I be at least be annoyed somewhat? After all, I am being a bit inconvenienced by all this._'

So engrossed in thought, Asuka failed to hear the door slide open to admit Misato to the room. As the Major walked in she noticed Asuka was seated at Shinji's side, holding his hand in hers. At first, she was shocked by the sight, but then she smiled sadly. '_Maybe when he wakes up... things will be different between those two..._' she thought to herself.

"I thought I'd find you here..." Misato said, announcing her presence in the room. The sudden sound startled Asuka, causing her to drop Shinji's hand in an unconscious effort to make it appear as if she had never been holding it. '_Then again..._' Misato considered wryly, "_...maybe not._'

"Misato? I... I didn't hear you come in..." Asuka replied. 

"You're needed for a impromptu sync test Asuka." Misato told her charge. "Rei's already changing, and the test plugs are nearly finished being prepped."

Asuka nodded, but for some reason she felt reluctant to leave the room. 

"It probably won't take all that long, and you can come back for awhile when the test is finished." Misato said, noticing the girl's hesitation.

Asuka shook herself from the hazy state she was in. "That won't be necessary, Misato." Asuka told her guardian dismissively. "I'll head over to the locker rooms now." With that, the red-haired girl stood and walked briskly from the room.

Misato watched her leave and shook her head as the room's door hissed shut behind her. "She's still the same old Asuka." she sighed, then shrugged her shoulders. After taking a brief look at Shinji, she left the room and the boy behind to return to her duties as an officer of NERV.

+ M + I + N + D +

**"..."**

**"?"**

**"..."**

* G * A * M * E * S *

Rei must have already left, as the locker rooms appeared to be completely empty by the time Asuka arrived. '_So much the better._' Asuka thought.

"You'd better not peek while I'm changing." Asuka told Shinji aloud, not even bothering to subvocalize.

"Er... sure thing Asuka..." Shinji replied, feeling the mental equivalent of a blush coming on. He prayed to any deity that might exist that she wouldn't be able to see the mental image the suggestion had flashed through his mind's eye. 

Asuka smiled at the feeling of embarrassment emanating from Shinji as she began to undress. '_Shinji always takes everything so seriously._'she noted with amusement. '_It makes him sooo easy to tease... its not really much of a challenge. Why do I enjoy it so much, then?_'

She pondered this for awhile, until her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her cranial passenger. "Um... Asuka?" 

"Yeah?" Asuka responded verbally as she was finishing pulling on her plug-suit. "What is it, Shinji?"

"Er... I just thought of something..." Shinji said. "Because I'm in your head... my brain-waves are probably going to affect sync scores..."

Asuka paused thoughtfully to consider this revelation. "You might be right, but what about it?"

"Do you think that the MAGI might detect my presence?" Shinji asked.

There was another pause as Asuka thought about what he had just said. Finally, she answered. "I'm honestly not sure, Shinji. I know the MAGI record data from the sync tests, but I don't have any idea as to whether or not they'd be able to detect our duality."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see." Shinji responded hopefully. "If they do, though, then we won't have to worry about proving anything to Misato or Ritsuko in order to get their help. I'm beginning to think we're going to need it after all."

Asuka depressed the button at her wrist to vacuum seal the plugsuit. "Me too."

As Asuka made her way to the door, she failed to notice the presence of a certain blue haired girl who was behind a different row of lockers. Rei had not, as was previously assumed, already in her the entryplug awaiting the commencement of the sync tests. She had responded to the Major's page, yes, but she had waited, out of sight, until both Asuka and Misato had left Shinji's room. She had then reentered the room and made one last check-up on the Third Child, before setting out in the direction of the Women's locker-room. As such, she had arrived just as Asuka had began her little discussion.

'_Why was Pilot Sorhyu addressing Ikari like that?_'

* M * I * N * D *

**" ! "**

- G - A - M - E - S -

"I ready Misato, let's get this thing over with." Asuka's voice came over the com system.

"We're still waiting for Rei, Asuka." Misato said into the microphone. "Please, just hold on a little longer."

"What?!?" Asuka exclaimed. "I thought that you said..."

"I know, I know..." Misato replied. "But it seems she hasn't arrived yet. No one can seem to find..."

As if on cue, Rei appeared on the catwalk leading to the entrances of the test plugs and climbed into Unit-00's entryplug.

"...Never mind." Misato said. "We'll be starting in a moment, Asuka."

"Good." the red-headed pilot replied, still sounding perturbed.

"Filling test plug 00 with LCL" Maya announced. "Charging LCL."

"Confirm MAGI data recording." Ritsuko said, her voice sounding clinical and disinterested.

Maya's fingers flew over the terminal in front of her as data flowed onto the projec-screen. "Balthasar confirmed; Melchoir confirmed; Caspar confirmed. The MAGI are recording data at 99.9% efficiency. Ready to begin synchronization simulation."

Ritsuko nodded. "Begin simulation."

Maya displayed the sync scores on the large vid-screen that hung above the obsvervation windows.

"Strange..." Ritsuko commented. "Asuka's score's fluctuating awfully strangely..."

"What?" Misato asked worriedly. "She'll still be able to pilot, won't she?"

"Actually, its about five to twenty-five points higher than normal..." Ritsuko said.

"Huh?" was Misato's response. She had been paying more attention to the screens displaying the pilots faces, rather than the sync scores. She looked up at the large vid-screen, and saw that Asuka's synchronization indicator was fluctuating rapidly, though it was definitely higher than her normal scores.

"Asuka, please try to focus more." Ritsuko said into the microphone on the control panel. 

"Okay..." Asuka replied. Gradually, her score had decreased in its fluctuation, though was still doing it far more than it should have been doing.

"Asuka, can focus yourself just a little bit more?" Ritsuko asked after it seemed that the score refused to lessen its wild jumping any further.

"I'm about as focused as I'm going to get." Asuka answered, her voice's civility sounding a bit strained.

Ritsuko simply watched the scores for a few moments more, then shook her head.

"What is it?" Misato asked, her worry growing. 

"I'm not sure." Ritsuko said. "It might be that this is an after-affect of her contact with the angel, or it might be that this has been caused by something else completely unrelated. I can't be sure until I get a closer look at the data." The blond scientist then spoke into the mike. "Asuka, Rei, the test is over. You may leave now."

  
  
  
  


**Informative notes:**

There are about 2000 kanji characters currently used in the Japanese language, of which a Japanese student is expected to have learned by their graduation from high school. 


	6. Part Sixth

- MIND - GAMES - 

Part Sixth

  
  


"This is what you do after school?" Shinji asked. "Watch this... this...." Try as he might, he found it too difficult to finish his sentence, as no word seemed to appropriately match his abhorrence.

"And what do you do?" Asuka asked, cutting him off before he found the words he was searching for. "Lay in your room with your earphones on and stare at the ceiling?"

Judging by the embarrassed feeling emanating from Shinji, Asuka realized she had guessed right. 'Mein gott... he's worse off than I originally thought.'

"So what if I do?" Shinji shot back defensively. "I happen to like music, is that so wrong?"

Asuka was taken aback. She hadn't expected him to make an attempt at a comeback. "No." she answered, her subvocalized voice subdued. "There's nothing wrong with that."

They sat in silence for a while, both watching the events of the soap opera unfold. "I guess its not so bad." Shinji commented at the first commercial break. "But the story is a little hard to believe."

"You're not supposed to believe it." Asuka explained. "It is, after all, television. You're only supposed to watch it." 

"Hmmmm" Shinji hummed thoughtfully. "I never thought of it like that before."

Asuka could not help but roll her eyes in response. "That figures." she muttered under her breath, though Shinji chose to pretend he didn't hear it. They once more fell into to the easy silence as they watched the characters perform their drama on the TV screen.

After awhile, though, Asuka became aware of Shinji growing gradually uncomfortable from something, but she was unable to determine from what his discomfort stemmed from. "Something wrong Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Er, no, uh, nothing's wrong." Shinji replied evasively. 

Asuka felt a wave of guilt emanate from Shinji, though she knew he was lying even without the emotional hint. "Shinji," Asuka stated firmly "You should really leave lying to those better suited to the task. Now, what's bothering you?"

Shinji sighed. "I was just thinking..." he said as his voice trailed off.

"Yeah?" Asuka asked, hoping to nudge him into continuing.

"You seem to get... upset... when Rei was around."

"So?" Asuka asked pointedly, not exactly liking where this conversation was heading.

"I... I was just curious as to... why, I guess." Shinji replied hesitantly.

"Why?" Asuka repeated, more for her benefit than Shinji's. Thankfully, the commercial break ended, thus halting their conversation.

The show eventually concluded and Shinji failed to bring the subject up again. He wanted Asuka to tell him without having to badger her into it. He was sure that she still remembered his question, but had chosen not to give him an answer. He felt it best to simply let the matter drop. 

The credits began to roll, and Asuka negligently flipped the television off. It was then that she noticed the peculiar smell in the air. It was an unmistakable scent, one that struck fear into both Shinji, Asuka and Pen-Pen alike.

It was the smell of Misato's cooking.

"Dinner's ready!"

- M - I - N - D -

"..."

- G - A - M - E - S -

NERV's two commanders stood side-by-side in the windowed observation deck of Eva Cage 7, looking out over the motionless form of EVA Unit-01.

"You seem smug." Sub-commander Fuyutski commented. "I take it that they were less than pleased with this latest turn of events?"

"SEELE relies too much on the Dead Sea Scrolls and its schedules and timetables." Gendo Ikari replied. "They should have learned by now that not everything is predicted in the Scrolls, nor can everything be put to a schedule."

"Speaking of schedules," Fuyutski began, "How badly interrupted was the testing of Units -03 and -04?"

Unbeknownst to Fuyutski, the corners of Commander Ikari's mouth turned ever-so slightly upward. "Not so much to as upset our plans." he replied. "In this case, things are going the way they were scheduled."

Though anyone else would likely take such a statement at face value, Fuyutski had known Gendo Ikari far too long to take anything he said as being simply as it seemed. He was almost sure Ikari was not referring to the official schedules set by SEELE or any other organization for that matter, but rather to a schedule that was of Ikari's own design and making. 'Had he expected this to happen?' Fuyutski could not help but wonder.

- M - I - N - D -

". . . I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!" the sudden shout shattered the silence that had long since settled over the room. Handfuls of hair were forcefully pulled from his head as he let out a feral scream of frustration. When he could scream no more he collapsed to the floor and began to use his index finger to make strange noises using his lips as his instrument.

Apache merely stared at him, laughter twinkling in his eyes.

* G * A * M * E * S *

Ritsuko scrolled through the results of the synchronization test one more time. 'These scores don't make any sense. This flux margin must have some explanation that I'm just not seeing.'

Asuka's bio-readings didn't indicate anything as being abnormal. She wasn't suffering from any signs of mental contamination from either EVA or Angel and from what the good doctor was able to gather from the various reports, the mental state of the Second Child was as stable as it had ever been. Try as she might, Ritsuko could find no insight as to what could have caused the strange sync scores.

It was beginning to frustrate her.

"What am I missing here?" Ritsuko asked herself aloud.

"Ma'am?" Maya asked, looking up from her terminal at her superior and mentor.

The blond scientist sat back in her chair and sighed. "Sorry, Maya. These crazy sync scores are driving me nuts. I still can't seem to pinpoint the reason behind them, and we've already gone over 75% of the data that the MAGI collected." 

Maya frowned as she turned her attention back to her monitor. "We'll just have to keep looking until we find what we're looking for... no matter how long it takes."

Ritsuko smiled at her protege's dedication. "You're right, Maya. The answer is here somewhere, we simply have to find  
it."

Feeling renewed, Ritsuko returned to work. "How's Shinji doing?" Maya asked after awhile, trying to break up the monotony of their endeavors.

Ritsuko answered without looking away from her screen. "Still no change."

"He's still in a coma?" Maya asked.

"It's not exactly a coma, really. It's more like he's simply not there any more. He doesn't show signs of brain or neural activity other than what's necessary to maintain life functions. So far, he hasn't responded to any form of treatment." Ritsuko smiled wearily. "I guess you could say he's another perplexing problem we'll have to solve."

Ritsuko brought up the next series of data charts to look over. Her eyes widened in surprise. 'This brain wave pattern doesn't make any sense... Nothing I've ever heard of has this kind of a signature. Hmmmm. Something is most definitely wrong here...'

"Maya, does the datascan show file 123A-45D43 as being corrupted in some way?"

Maya double checked quickly, "No ma'am. The MAGI's diagnostics report the file as being in nominal condition."

"Was any of the equipment reporting any malfunctions during the test period. Sensor equipment in particular."

Maya scanned the logs in a fraction of a second, then answered her. "No malfunctions were detected. Could that mean that the sysop routines are bugging up?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "An alarm would have gone off immediately from at least one of the MAGI units. For some reason, Asuka's brain waves must really look like this."

Maya got up and walked over to her mentor's terminal to see what she was talking about. What she saw was not the repetitive pattern of "waves" she had expected to find. It was similar to the graph of a tangent function... which is to say it appeared erratic and all over the place except the places it should be. "What... But how is... I mean, this can't be..." Maya stuttered, still unable to look away from the aberration in front of her.

"It is, though..." Ritsuko replied, her gaze also transfixed by the data on her screen. "The real question you should be asking is: why? Why is Asuka's brain wave pattern behaving like this?"

Maya Shook her head slowly. "I have no idea, ma'am."

Ritsuko didn't seem to hear her, though, as her fingers blurred across the keyboard, instructing the MAGI supercomputers to preform some task for her. From what little Maya had been able to see on the screen as line after line of programming scrolled past, she saw that Ritsuko was constructing some sort of elaborate search program. A full twenty-five seconds later, Ritsuko had finished the program and was ready to execute it.

"Here goes..." the blond scientist said under her breath. She pressed the ENTER key.

The program began to run.

"What was that?" Maya asked curiously.

Ritsuko smiled wryly. "When in doubt, go ask mother." she said softly.

Maya blinked. "Ma'am?"

"The short of it is that I asked the MAGI to search the world's databases for documented brain patterns that might be similar and then, based on that data, attempt to diagnose the problem with Asuka's data."

"Oh."

Two minutes passed.

Ritsuko frowned. "It shouldn't be taking this long."

Another minute passed. Ritsuko began to chew her lip impatiently. After another thirty seconds, the program had finished its task and displayed its results.

Ritsuko blinked at the data displayed before her. "There's two?!?!"

* M * I * N * D *

"Well duh..."

* G * A * M * E * S *

"We really need to get you back in your own body." Asuka was in her bedroom, having escaped from a fate marginally worse than death (Misato's latest attempt at making curry) more or less unscathed. She was currently lying on her futon with both her hands behind her head as her eyes on the ceiling, as she chatted with her incorporeal companion.

"You just don't want to have to continue eating Misato's cooking." Shinji accused her flatly.

She made a face. "Can you blame me for that?"

Asuka felt Shinji chuckle softy. "Not really." he said. "I sometimes wonder if Misato has a stomach made of cast iron. What else could explain how she manages to digest that stuff?"

The image of the long scar across Misato's abdomen flashed through Asuka's mind. 'Could she really...?' she wondered as her mind wandered. 'It certainly would explain a lot. I mean, the last time I ate that stuff, it burned going down and later felt like a lump of lead crawling its way through my insides...' she blanched slightly at the memories. 'How *does* she eat that stuff?' 

"What's wrong, Asuka?" Shinji asked, confused by her silence.

Snapped from her private musings, she replied. "Nothing, I was just thinking."

"Oh." was all Shinji could say.

An uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them. Both wanted to say something more, but they were unsure as to what, exactly, it was that they wanted to say. Each grew frustrated with the situation, but neither felt the other's irritation as the emotion was so well mirrored by their own.

"Shinji..." Asuka finally said, forging ahead despite the feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty. "What happens next?"

A tense moment of silence ensued as she waited for the Third Child to respond. "I... I really don't know." he finally replied. "Maybe Ritsuko will figure it out on her own. Are you still against telling Misato and Ritsuko about all this?"

Asuka barely took a fraction of a second to think over her response. "I can't do it, Shinji. At least not until we've exhausted all other options available to us."

Shinji didn't feel it proper to point out that they practically had exhausted the options as far either of them knew. "Well, what do you suggest our next course of action be?" he asked instead, in as non-vindictive tone as he could manage.

Asuka gave no immediate response. "We could always try again tomorrow." Asuka said after a while.

"Seeing as we haven't come up with any other solutions yet, I guess that's all we can do." Shinji replied.

"Yeah..." Asuka yawned.

"You must be tired Asuka." Shinji said. "Let's sleep on this and see how things look in the morning."

"You read my mind." 

A feeling of surprise came from Shinji. "No, I didn't. Honest!"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "It's only an expression, idiot. Goodnight."

Shinji relaxed. "Goodnight, Asuka. Sweet dreams." With that, Shinji's presence vanished from her awareness.

Turning over on her side and closing her eyes, Asuka began to reflect upon the ending day.

'Shinji doesn't make for all that bad of company...' She observed. 'Who would've thought? I actually enjoyed most of our conversations, and then there was the music we played... How come he wasn't like this before today?'

She pondered this for awhile until she realized that Shinji had changed his behavior even before being removed from his body. 'But why?' she wondered. 'What could have happened to him to cause him to change so much?'

Despite her efforts, she could not discern the reason for Shinji's metamorphosis. Had she been more awake, she might have been able to make a few more guesses, but as tired as she was, her toils simply carried her off into slumber. 

* M * I * N * D *

Ah, to sleep...

+ G + A + M + E + S +

Shinji returned to the now-familiar emptiness of the Void, full of questions. 'Why does she insist on doing this by ourselves? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get back into my body without outside help... By this point I was sure she'd be willing to do just about anything to get rid of me.' 

'She reacted kinda strangely when I suggested we tell Misato and Ritsuko. It was almost as if... she were afraid of something. But what? What could she be afraid of?'

Shinji was unable to further ponder the matter, as the Void began to shudder and reshape itself.

"Here we go again..." Shinji muttered, as he braced himself for what was to come.

+ M + I + N + D +

...to sleep, perchance, to dream...

+ G + A + M + E + S +

Asuka found herself floating alone amidst a sea of endless darkness, nothingness surrounding her on all sides as far as she could see. She was alone.

Yes. said a voice from beyond that infinite darkness. You *are* alone. More so than you even realize. But here, allow me to show you...

An image of her father talking to her stepmother appeared. "Papa..." Asuka whispered faintly in response to the sudden apparition.

"I just don't feel comfortable around her anymore." her father was saying. "I didn't mean for us to grow apart like we did, but... well... You've seen how she is. She always was her mother's child..."

Her stepmother put a comforting hand over her father's. "I don't think anyone could blame you, dear. The way Asuka acts at times... its unnatural. Its not your fault, I don't see what you could have possibly done to change the way she's turned out..."

Asuka felt the familiar sensation of something hardening within her. Refusing to allow herself to feel any sort of emotion towards the display, she turned away, only to find herself confronted with another image, this time of Misato talking on the phone with someone. 

"Asuka? She's becoming a real hassle lately. Yeah, I know I volunteered to be her guardian, but that was only because I thought she'd have a positive effect on Shinji. Too bad she didn't mature emotionally during the time she spent in Germany; she's still the same self-centered bratty little girl that I remember. Her actions towards Kaji just goes to prove my point..."

Asuka once again looked away. "She cares about Shinji, not me." She said to herself. "It doesn't matter though, I don't need her. Her opinions of me don't matter."

"Did I hear someone say my name?" Asuka heard an all-too familiar voice ask. She turned back to see Kaji now embracing Misato from behind, his arms wrapping around her mid-section.

"I'll call you back." Misato said, hanging up the cell phone as she pushed him away. "You jerk! You were supposed to meet me after I got off my shift."

Kaji's face became a mask of wounded innocence. "I would have," he explained, "had I not been detained by a certain redheaded fourteen-year-old who insisted on keeping in my company wherever I went."

Misato's cross glare at the Unshaven One refused to relent. "Sometimes, I think you enjoy her infatuation with you just a little too much." she said, her tone icy and unforgiving.

"You know there's no need to be jealous, Misato." Kaji replied. 

"Who said that I was?" Misato asked, her voice taking on a dangerous quality. 

"I can't bring myself to cause her pain." Kaji explained. "She's only a child, after all."

Only a child . . .

Only a child ! ! !

The words screamed over and over again within her soul, tearing away at it with ruthless abandon. Worst of all, she knew it was true. Despite everything, Kaji saw Asuka as being a child... a little girl. That's all she was and all she would ever be to him. A child who was playing games meant for grown-ups; trying to pretend to be what she was not. Kaji didn't care for her. Not the real her, anyway, not the way she needed him too. He couldn't see the real Asuka.

Fighting back tears, Asuka turned away; trying to somehow flee from the painful scene only to see Hikari standing before her. The pigtailed girl was obviously happy about something, and from the silly grin that was plastered across her face, Asuka could hazard a likely guess that Suzahara had something to do with it.

"Hey Asuka!" Hikari greeted her cheerfully. "Touji just asked me to be his girlfriend!"

Asuka felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as her suspicions were confirmed. Hikari continued to talk. "I can barely believe it! I'm going to spend every waking moment with him from now on." Hikari frowned slightly. "I can't hang around you anymore, though. Touji says you're a bad influence on me and I'd have to agree. You're too individualistic to associate with a proper Japanese wife. I'm sorry." Hikari smiled again and giggled. "'Hikari Suzahara.' Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Goodbye Asuka."

Hikari turned and faded into the nothingness as she walked away, leaving Asuka standing alone once more. 'Alone...' the word reverberated within Asuka's thoughts, 'Papa, Misato, Kaji, even Hikari... I'm alone... all alone...'

Another image came into view, this time it was the familiar form of Shinji that Asuka saw. He stood smiling serenely at her, giving her that "look." She wanted to call out to him, but was stopped by the appearance of another image. Rei Ayanami walked up to Shinji, demurely demanding his attention. When Shinji turned towards the First Child, Rei took his face in her hands and made it so his only choice was to focus on her and her alone. Ever so slowly, Ayanami brought his face towards hers as both of them closed their eyes in anticipation of what was to come. Their lips drew closer, closer, closer...

Asuka could swear she heard the sound of something breaking. Had she thought about it, she might have guessed that it was her battered heart.

  
  
  
  


Author's Notes:

I humbly beg forgiveness for the length of time it has taken me to release this part of Mind Games. As I continue to develop a story, it becomes harder and harder for me to write it. This particular installation was to be six to seven sections longer, but due to pressure from you, the readers, I decided to cut it short so to be able to release it earlier than it would have been otherwise.   
I hope to have Part Seventh released before the end of the month, but in all likelihood, it will probably be closer to Christmas before its done.  
A note about the inserts: The inserts are something I put in mainly for my personal enjoyment. They started out as a way for me to foreshadow some actions that were to occur in future sections of the story. I received a lot of feedback saying that the inserts detracted from the story, so, during the last part, the inserts were silenced (sorta). I have decided to continue to have the inserts, so as not to deprive those of you who actually enjoy the rapier witticism of mine and Apache's asinine commentaries. For the many of you who dislike the inserts... Skip 'em. They're clearly marked so as to be easily avoidable. At some future date, I might release a Mind Games-lite version that removes the annoying interludes for those of you who wish to read the story uninterrupted by commentary. But that day is as far off as the conclusion of this tangled tale. 

A note about darkscribes.org: I've long since become a member of the Dark Lords and Ladies of Fiction. Please visit darkscribes.org when you have the opportunity. You'll be able to find my work there, as well as many other talented writers. I'm responsible for some the site design and a lot of the site graphics(check out the animated Chibi Unit-01 and Sachiel!) You can find a good deal of Evangelion Fanfiction there, though that is in no way the limit of its content. Check it out.

Right now... I need some sleep.

  
  



	7. Part Seventh

**- Mind - Games -**

_Part Seventh_

  
  


Shinji was determined that, _this_ time, he wouldn't interfere with Asuka's dreams this time. Dreams were something far too personal, he'd decided, and he had no business poking his nose into those dreams which did not belong to him.

He did not take into account the problem that he'd probably have very little choice in the matter when the time came.

When the chaos of the Void's transformation finally stabilized, Shinji found himself floating amongst an endless ocean of darkness. He saw Asuka's image floating not that far from him; a few quick strides would bring him beside her, yet she seemed completely unaware of his presence though she had looked in his direction several times already. 

Without warning, the images of a man and a woman materialized out of the darkness. They were talking about something, but Shinji was unable to make out anything that they were saying. He was, however, able to feel Asuka's reaction to it. He noticed how she hardened her defenses, trying to not let anything get to her, but he knew damage had already been done. An old wound on her soul had been reopened.

The images of the man and woman faded to nothingness as a new image appeared, this one being of Misato on a cell phone. Again, Shinji could not hear any words that were spoken, but he could feel the wound inside of Asuka opening little by little. He began to wonder if his no-interference policy was such a good idea. 

Kaji appeared, and Shinji relaxed a little. 'The course of the dream must be changing' he thought. 'Kaji would never appear in one of Asuka's _bad_ dreams' Seconds later he realized that he couldn't have been more wrong. Agony ripped through the fabric of the German girl's emotions. Shinji was caught so much by surprise that the pain threatened to overwhelm him.

Regaining his bearings, Shinji instinctively sought to go to Asuka's aid. Though he tried, he discovered some sort of invisible barrier centimeters from the point he'd been standing.

"What the hell's going on here?" he asked aloud. He pushed against the barrier, but found it didn't give in the slightest. Just as he was trying to find if he might find a way around it, a fresh wave of despair washed through the two teens. Shinji growled in frustration and beat his fists against the transparent barrier. He could feel her sinking into the darkness of despair, slipping away from all that made up her identity, while he was trapped here by a wall that didn't even really exist. This situation was absolutely infuriating! Asuka needed...

...Needed what exactly? Him? What could he possibly do for her? Help her?

Shinji ceased struggling against the barrier as he recalled the numerous times Asuka claimed she didn't want or need his help. Thinking on it, he found that it didn't matter to him what she thought about the matter. He was going to help her.

"Why are you suddenly so set on helping her?" A familiar voice asked. "I thought you were determined not to interfere."

"She's in pain!" Shinji answered as he once more began to push on the barrier. "I can't simply stand by and do nothing!"

"What makes you think _you_ can do something?" the voice asked.

"Because I know I can at least try!" Shinji replied, straining with his entire being to move the barrier. "By trying, I'm doing something. Its as simple as that!"

"Hmmmm." the voice hmmmed thoughtfully. "Very well, but just one final question, if you please: Why do you want to help her, Shinji?"

Shinji answered without even thinking. "Because I care about her, dammit!"

Suddenly, the barrier announced its giving way with a loud crash as it shattered like a piece of cheap glass. "Well done, Shinji." The voice said, sounding quite pleased. "There might be hope for you yet."

Shinji barely heard the words of praise, as he was already off and running. Asuka was now sitting so she was hugging her legs to her chest and had her head pressing against her knees.

Though she made no noise, her shoulders shook with silent sobbing.

"Asuka?" Shinji asked as he knelt down next to her, "Are you alright?"

The girl did not respond other than pull her legs closer to her body and sink her head farther down between them. 

Shinji grabbed her shoulder and shook it vigorously. "Hey, Asuka, come on, snap out of it!"

It was unclear whether it was his words or his shaking that brought Asuka back into awareness but one of them seemed to have done the trick. She lifted her head to look up at him. "Sh-Shinji?" she asked as she looked up to see for herself. As several emotions played across her face, Shinji saw that her eyes glistened with tears and that her cheeks were stained with tracks of moisture. 

"Yes, I... I'm here now." He replied, having felt the need to say _something_ to try and reassure her. It was all he could do to resist the urge to snatch her up into his arms and hold her. '_She looks so... fragile._' The look on her face made him want to shield her from any pain that he possibly could. He was so caught up in his own feelings towards her that he was struck completely by surprise at what was to come.

*** S L A P** *

Shinji's ears rang with the sound of a hand meeting his face at a rather high velocity. Seconds later he was aware of a sharp stinging sensation on his cheek, in an area roughly the size and shape of Asuka's hand.

Shinji looked over at Asuka, still in shock from the blow she had delivered. Gone was the vulnerable, suffering Asuka; in her place was an Asuka full of rage and indignation, though Shinji couldn't fathom as to a reason why.

"W-What was that for?" he asked her.

"You kissed her!" Asuka growled dangerously. "You abandoned me!"

"Kissed?" Shinji asked, feeling quite confused. "What are you talking about?"

"As if you didn't know!" Asuka sneered. "Just leave me alone!"

"Honestly Asuka, I _don't_ know what you're talking about." Shinji calmly pleaded. "Tell me what happened."

"I saw you kissing Ayanami." Asuka said accusingly. "I know you were going to run off with her and leave me behind... just like all the rest of them!"

Shinji was taken aback, quite startled by this revelation. '_She must have dreamed it... but why would she be this upset about it? She can't possibly... could she? Of course not. It must be something else._' 

Asuka continued to speak. "I'm alone. Everyone leaves me. I'll always be alone..." She began to stare off into space, her eyes taking on a vacant, faraway look.

Shinji then realized the problem that Asuka was dealing with: loneliness. "Asuka," he began, "listen to me. I've never kissed Rei. There's only one girl I've ever kissed. You."

Asuka's eyes focused on Shinji once more, her sense of hope reigniting. Sensing that he was making progress, Shinji continued.

"You're not alone, Asuka... not really. There will always be the people who care about you... like me."

"Shinji..." Asuka's eyes softened as the wound on her soul started to mend itself. He had provided the life-preserver that she'd needed in order to stay afloat.

He'd done something. He'd helped her.

Asuka seemed to want to say something more, but for some reason she was unable to. Instead, she threw her arms around Shinji in an embrace, whispering his name again softly.

Before Shinji could respond, though, the scene began to waver as it began to de-construct. Asuka disappeared from view as the Void once again reinstated itself.

+ M + I + N + D +

"I'm glad that part is finally over with." the young man sighed leaning back in his chair. "Who knew that dreams could be so exhausting?"

* G * A * M * E * S *

Asuka awoke to the sound of the rain pattering upon her window panes. She rubbed the sleepy feeling out of her eyes as she sat up. She felt well rested, more so than she had felt in a long time. She had the rare feeling all was right in the world, and nothing could possibly go wrong in the day ahead. 

"Guten morgen, Shinji. You awake yet?" she subvocalized, her tone bright and cheery.

"Good morning Asuka." Shinji's voice replied. "Did you sleep well?"

Asuka smiled. "Yes, thank you. Did you?" she asked.

She felt Shinji return her smile. "More or less." he said, skillfully concealing his sigh of relief. He was glad she didn't seem able to remember her dreams upon waking. If Asuka didn't realize he was interfering with her dreams, he didn't have to feel so guilty about doing it.

Asuka made her way to the bathroom to take her morning shower. "Don't you dare of try to somehow take a peek at my nubile nakedness while I'm bathing, Shinji." she said as she opened the bathroom door.

She suppressed a smile as she felt Shinji's embarrassed reaction. "I w-would n-n-never even t-think of it, Asuka..."

Asuka frowned slightly as she realized that indeed, he might never have thought of doing such a thing, even given such a golden opportunity. He always behaved like a perfect gentleman, more or less. Any other boy his age would likely give his soul to be in such a position, but why didn't he? He didn't find her... _unattractive_ for some reason, did he?

It wasn't until shortly after that possibility occurred to her did she realize she _actually_ cared as to what Shinji thought about her. Not only did she care, she _wanted_ him to think she was attractive.

"Is something wrong Asuka?" Shinji asked concerned, having felt Asuka's shock at her recent epiphany.

The question snapped Asuka from her mental wanderings. "Nothing's wrong." she replied quickly, hoping desperately that he couldn't overhear her thoughts.

"Okay..." Shinji said. Though he did not quite believe her, he knew it best to let the matter drop. Still, he couldn't help but wonder as to what, exactly, was bothering her.

Stepping under the showerhead, Asuka fought in vain not to ask herself as to _why_ she felt the way she did.

* M * I * N * D *

"Emotional attachments between subjects has continued to develop into a stronger relationship between them. Though there has been little further indication of cerebral digestion, personal intuition suggests that it is currently progressing to complicating levels."

"Subjects shall continue to be monitored..."

* G * A * M * E * S *

Rei walked silently alongside Commander Ikari through the maze of corridors that made up the majority of NERV headquarters. Normally, Rei did not mind the lack of talking as they walked, not being one for unnecessary words or idle chatter. Today was _not_ a normal day, though. Today was... _different_.

Today, she _actually_ had something she _wanted_ to talk about.

Several things, actually. But due to the sensitive nature of their content, Rei decided it was best if she waited until they reached a secure area before discussing them with the Commander.

At last they reached the executive offices, an area which she knew had undergone a security sweep within the last twelve hours. Now that she had the security she needed to discuss the matters she need only decide on what method to use to broach the subject.

"Commander, permission to speak?" As one might have predicted, she chose the direct approach.

"Of course Rei, what is it?" Gendo Ikari replied as he continued to walk.

"I have some concerns as to the mental stability of the Second Child."

Gendo turned to look at her."Oh? I assume you have reasons as to why."

Rei nodded, though her gaze was still fixed on the way ahead of her. "Yes, sir. I do."

"Let's hear them, then." Gendo said, knowing Rei was unlikely to continue unless he told her to.

"Yesterday, in the locker room, I heard her conversing with Pilot Ikari when she thought she was alone." Rei explained.

Gendo stopped in his tracks, prompting Rei to stop as well. "Sir?" she asked as she looked over to her commanding 

The commander pushed up his sunglasses with his index finger. "Interesting..."

* M * I * N * D *

"...And now, here's everyone's favorite bleach blond scientist singing a little number entitled "Let's make matters worse"."

- G - A - M - E - S -

Ritsuko could not help but yawn as the elevator's floor indicator clicked off level after level. It had been another long night, and she hadn't slept for much more than an hour since the latest angel attack. The long hours had taken their toll on her, and she was more than ready to collapse into a nice, soft bed.

"No rest for the weary..." she muttered to herself. She still had too much to worry about to think about resting right now. First, she had to deliver her report regarding the data from the previous day's sync tests to the Commander. To say her findings were troublesome would be putting it too mildly...

The familiar *ping* of the elevator bell announced she'd arrived at the proper floor. The doors slid open to reveal the familiar darkness that was Gendo Ikari's office. The commander was sitting at his desk, with the back of his chair facing in her direction. "Good morning Dr. Akagi." he said without turning around.

Whatever the nature of their personal relationship, lives depended upon their maintaining the status of their professional one. When on the job, one must often put personal feelings aside. Such was their case.

  
  


"There's a cup of coffee on the desk if you want it, Doctor." Gendo said as Ritsuko walked towards him from across the room. She was more than a little surprised at such an act of kindness from the normally cold-hearted man. Gendo was not one whom normally went out of his way to consider the feelings of others. Ritsuko didn't ponder this long, however, as the promise of caffeine overrode any shock or suspicion she might have had. 

She found the cup was still warm, and the coffee was at just the right temperature. "Thank you, commander." she said, having quickly finished the cup, feeling slightly better than she had in the elevator.

"Indeed." Gendo replied. "Your subordinate informed me that you have something urgent to report on yesterday's synchronization scores regarding the Second Child?" 

"Yes sir." Ritsuko cleared her throat before continuing. "According to the data analysis, the Second Child is currently housing two distinct and individual brainwave patterns."

Gendo turned his chair around to face her. "Continue." he said, and by no means was it meant as a suggestion.

Ritsuko did as she was instructed "The second pattern is apparently some sort of result from the last Angel attack. It is unclear as to the nature of this second pattern, we don't yet know if its something created by her contact with the Angel or something of her own making. She has not as of yet shown signs of being manipulated by the presence of this secondary pattern, she might not even be aware of it."

"I see. Is she still able to pilot her EVA?"

"She might be a security risk if it turns out this secondary pattern is of the Angel's doing. Otherwise, she's still capable of piloting her EVA."

Gendo leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk as he folded his hands in front of his face. "Your recommendations?" he asked.

"Find a way to remove the pattern." Ritsuko replied. "The sooner the better."

  
  
  
  


**Notes from the Author:**

Yes, I know this one is even shorter than usual, but I felt bad for not releasing this part with the last one as my outlines originally had intended. This was supposed to be the stopping point of Part Sixth, but as you might notice, that would have nearly doubled its length. 

Anyone got any Omake scenes for this story? I'd like to hear them. I'm working on putting together a collection of them for www.darkscribes.org. Send them to me if you have any you've thought of, or some ideas for them if you've had any. Thanks.

I'd like to thank all of those who've reviewed my work thus far, and thank those that are going to review after they finish reading this message. Your reviews are truly the only reason I've written as much as I have, as they let me know others are still interested in what I have to write. They also encourage me to get off my lazy bum and work harder on getting the next part out as soon as I can. So please, let me know what you think of this, it really is important to me.

And now... for some sleep. I haven't caught a wink in nearly...oh god, seventy two hours? That can't be right...


	8. Part Eighth

*** M I N D * G A M E S ***

_Part Eighth_

  
  


"Shinji, what do you think of me?" Asuka asked as she finished toweling her body dry.

Shinji's only response was silence.

"Well?" Asuka asked, as she wrapped her towel around her and reached for one to wrap her hair with.

"W-what do you mean by that question, Asuka?" From the very first, Shinji had sensed that this was the type of question whose answer would only lead him into trouble. He felt how Asuka was _looking_ for something by asking this, but what it was lay just beyond his reach.

"It's a pretty straightforward question, isn't it?" Asuka said as she looked into the mirror on the door of the medicine cabinet. "What do you think of me?"

"What do I think of you?" Shinji repeated, still not understanding what Asuka wanted from him.

"Alright, I'll make things a little easier. When you think of me, what comes to mind?" Asuka asked, rephrasing her earlier question.

Soon after finishing her question, Asuka felt a swell of emotion emanate from Shinji, but it was just so complex that she could make neither heads or tails as to what it meant. "I promise that I won't get upset with you, Shinji." She assured him, then smiled a bit ruefully. "Besides, there isn't much I can do to you in your present location. Just...tell me what you think of _me..._ as honestly as you can... okay?"

There was a long pause before Shinji said anything. "I think you're completely unlike anyone I've ever met, Asuka."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. She knew he wasn't lying, it was quite obvious he meant what he said ... The problem was _what_ he meant _when_ he said it. "Can't you be a bit more... specific? That's a bit of a vague response."

"Your question was a bit vague in itself... if you want my opinion." Shinji replied a bit defensively.

Asuka opened the door to return to her room to dress, and was greeted by the serious voice of Misato talking on the phone with someone. 

"She can't come to the phone right now, but she's here." From the sound of it Misato was referring to Asuka, which predictably piqued the red-headed girl's attention. She quickly positioned herself so she might listen closer.

Misato continued the conversation, unaware as to Asuka's eavesdropping. "What is this all about?" A pause followed as the unknown party gave a response. "What do you _mean_ you can't explain? What's going on here?" Misato sounded a might bit displeased with whatever answer she had received. Another pause ensued as the other end took its turn to talk. "I understand." Misato responded, her voice grave. "We'll be there shortly."

Asuka stole quietly into her room and shut the door behind her. 'What was all that about?' the German girl wondered as she proceeded to dress herself.

Moments later there was a knock at her door. "Asuka?"

Asuka slid open the door, revealing a fully dressed-and-ready Misato. NERV's tactical officer gave her young charge a brief smile as a greeting, then went straight to business. "Good news, Asuka. No school today. We're needed at NERV. There's been an emergency."

- M - I - N - D -

"Gee I wonder what could possibly be so important?"

- G - A - M - E - S -

The hot mid-day desert sun beat down mercilessly upon the NERV staff who dared toil beneath its blistering heat. They scurried like ants in the shadow of the gleaming metallic giant that was EVA Unit-04, each preforming their task as best they could under the harsh conditions. No one complained though, for everyone had been eagerly anticipating this day, and a little hot weather wasn't about to put a damper on their excitement.

"Status check complete." reported a NERV technician. "Engine test is now ready to commence phase one."

Dr. Jonathon Roberts, the NERV officer responsible for the construction of EVA units -03 and -04, adjusted his glasses one more time before he answered. "Begin phase one."

At that moment, everyone held their breath. The sound of one person tapping in a code on a keyboard and the hum of the ventilation fans were the only noise in the entire control room.

"Phase one has been initiated." reported the tech.

Still, no one dared to breath. "Approaching phase one borderline... Phase two ready to commence." announced a different tech, her voice reverberating in the tense silence. 

"Start phase two." commanded Dr. Roberts. 

Once more the sound of tapping on keys echoed within the control room. "Phase two started successfully." the first technician reported. "S2 engine's output now powering all necessary pilot, secondary, and primary systems. Evangelion will be capable of movement in thirty seconds."

Roberts could have sworn that those were the longest thirty seconds in recorded history. "All systems receiving ample power and the EVA is now capable of movement." announced the female technician. "Phase two is complete."

The whole control room staff breathed an audible sigh of relief. Seconds later, a cheer went up among the entire facility as the news was announced over the PA system. The S2 engine had proven to be a success!

Roberts removed his glasses and wiped the sweat from his brow. For the first time in months, the knots in his stomach loosened slightly. "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing." he muttered under his breath.

- M - I - N - D -

"Expect the unexpected... or was that more predictable than I'd hoped it'd be?"

Apache snorted in response. The young man sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Once again, his fingers danced over the keyboard, filling the small bedroom with the sound of typing.

* G * A * M * E * S *

A glimmer of thought manifested somewhere far beyond the known cosmos. It sent out its call. "It is time. A council is required."

One by one, more entities began to manifest themselves, until a circle of five shining ones and eleven faded ones had appeared. A moment of silence was observed for the two entities that were in absence. "Let the council begin." said the one at the head of the circle.

"The lillum have acquired the essence of the tree of knowledge." the first announced.

"Is that the _only_ reason you called us, Amarisel?" Zeruel complained.

"Don't be so dense, Zeruel!" Arael snapped. "This might prove disastrous for our cause! The lillum could very well violate that which has been foreordained with _this_ discovery!"

"The prophecies don't necessarily forbid such a discovery from happening, Arael."

"You would side with _them_ against your own kind?" Arael said, his "voice" half questioning, half accusing.

"Tabris is not siding with the lillum, Arael." Bardiel interjected, trying to defuse the situation. "He simply makes a valid point. The prophecies say nothing on the matter."

"In fact, it might be that this occurred as a result of your actions."

"You go too far, Tabris!" Arael growled.

"Enough, brother. Amarisel, continue to monitor this event and keep the rest of us informed. I doubt the lillum are truly capable of realizing the full importance of this discovery, but its always better to be informed."

"I understand, Tabris."

"Good. This council is at an end."

* M * I * N * D *

"Amarisel is a rather neglected angel, don't you think? I mean, she did manage to destroy an EVA, after all, she should get a little more credit, shouldn't she?"

* G * A * M * E * S *

"What the hell is going on here, Ritsuko?"

Misato had cooled down some during the drive to HQ, though not quite enough so to let the sleep-deprived scientist off without at least some griping. One must keep up appearances, after all.

Ritsuko massaged her temples wearily. "We finished analyzing the data from the last synchronization test.."

"I'm listening." Misato stated flatly.

Ritsuko pressed a key on a nearby terminal, causing a large display screen to hum to life. "This is Asuka's brain wave pattern."

"I'm no expert, but its not supposed to look like that... is it?"

"Correct." Ritsuko replied. "The Magi generated this using incorrect parameters." She pressed another button and the screen changed. "This is the same data, but displayed using the correct parameters."

"There's _two_ now?" Misato exclaimed, feeling even more puzzled than before. "What does this all mean?"

"I can't say for certain, yet." Ritsuko said. "It could mean any number of things, though my gut tells me it has something to do with what happened in the last angel attack."

"You don't think that the Angel is somehow affecting Asuka, do you?" Misato asked worry beginning to seep in on several different levels.

"I can't rule out that possibility. In any case, we need to do more testing before we jump to any conclusions."

Misato nodded, then frowned thoughtfully a few moments later. "What are we supposed to tell Asuka?"

"Nothing, yet." Ritsuko replied, her voice neutral.

"But she has the _right_ to know!" Misato protested.

"It would run the risk of alerting a possible alien presence to our detection of its existence." Ritsuko explained. "If such a thing happens, it might try to damage the pilot. We cannot allow that to happen."

Misato felt all her arguments evaporate instantly. "You're right," She begrudgingly admitted "But I don't like not being able to tell her. I've never been that fond of keeping secrets."

Ritsuko gave her friend a weak smile. "Cheer up." she said in an effort to comfort her, "It might turn out you're not keeping secrets from Asuka after all."

"How's that?"

"She might not be Asuka anymore."

Misato shot the blond woman a withering glare. "That's not funny."

* M * I * N * D *

"I thought it was." he said in response to Misato's comment.

Apache snorted loudly.

"Hey, its not my fault I have a defective sense of humor. Hmmm... I wonder if its possible to get a refund on it?"

Apache gave no response.

+ G + A + M + E + S +

Asuka pressed the button on her wrist, vacuum sealing her plugsuit to her body. Neither she nor Shinji had said very much to the other since overhearing the phone conversation. Upon their arrival, Asuka was immediately informed to report to the locker room and change into her plugsuit without any offer of explanation as to what was going on. Having done as she had been ordered, she decided to report in to Misato, but as she tried to open the door to leave the locker room, she found the door locked.

"What the hell is going on here?" she asked out loud to no one in particular.

"What's wrong?" Shinji asked, near reeling from the sudden feeling of intense frustration and anger that Asuka was experiencing.

"The door's locked." Asuka grumbled.

"Are you sure it isn't just jammed or something?" Shinji asked hopefully.

To be certain, Asuka gave the button another couple of forceful jabs. "Yep, I'm sure." she replied.

"I don't suppose we could've been locked in here by accident..." Shinji said.

"I sincerely doubt that." Asuka muttered gruffly. 

"Then how else could we have been locked in?" Shinji asked, "You don't think this happened on purpose... do you?"

The door suddenly slid open with a hiss revealing a dark-suited section two agent standing there. "Miss Sorhyu, if you would come with me, please." His words were by no means a request, but a demand... and his tone made Asuka want to grind her teeth in aggravation. 

"I guess that answers _that_ question." she muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" asked the section two agent, unaware of the private conversation the red-headed pilot was participating in.

"Lead the way." Asuka replied in pleasant voice, though Shinji could feel the intense anger seething below the surface of her composure. 

'_Guess she has some sort of authority issues..._' Shinji thought, though he was careful not to voice this observation. While it might be cowardly to not speak one's mind, in Shinji's case, it was the only sensible thing to do.

+ M + I + N + D +

This is Asuka we're talking about, after all. If anyone could find a way to inflict damage upon on an entity residing in one's own brain, it'd be her.

+ G + A + M + E + S +

"Are you sure its safe to put her in the test plug?" Misato asked as she watched Asuka climbing into entry plug she normally used for the sync testing. "I mean, what if an Angel contaminates it and tries to spread like that other one?"

"I thought of that." Ritsuko replied without looking up. "We've quarantined the test facility and I've improved the MAGI's defenses just to be sure. This facility is the only one that has the necessary sensor equipment and is readily available for this operation."

_Operation?_ Misato thought to herself, _She can't possibly mean for me to consider this just another military action, can she?_ Misato balked at that thought. _Perhaps she means it in a medical sense. Some sort of bizarre exploratory surgery? Yeah, that seems more like the Ritsuko I know... but with the way things lately, how well do I _reallyknow_ Ritsuko anymore?_

Asuka finished climbing into the plug. _At least they could have made some sort of effort to help me in..._ she thought as she took a final glance at the imposing forms of the two section two agents that stood like statues on either side of the plug entrance. _I wonder if "lacking in personality and manners" is something NERV looks for when recruiting those dumkoffs... Were do you go to find so many people like that, anyway?_

As the hatchway closed and Link Connection Liquid filled the plug, Asuka emptied her thoughts and prepared for the alleged "sync test", settling into that familiar trance-like state as the plug began to reverberate with the tell-tale electronic hum. 

Misato and Ritsuko waited in silent tension as data streamed into the computers causing several monitors to spring to life with charts and graphs displayed on them.

"Its still there." Ritsuko announced, not surprised in the least. "But its not emanating any blue wave patterns whatsoever... interesting." 

"No blue pattern... that means its not an angel, right?" Misato asked, her voice hopeful.

"It means that there's no active angel presence." Ritsuko explained. "It still could mean that there's an angel there but its masking itself to avoid detection."

"Could it still be controlling Asuka, then, even though its inactive?" Misato asked, concerned.

"Unlikely." Ritsuko replied, "The dominant brain pattern is 98.7 % similar to Asuka's records prior to the similar attack. I think its safe to say that Asuka is still in control of herself... for now, anyways."

Misato breathed a sigh of relief. "And the secondary pattern?"

"What about it?" Ritsuko asked, not looking away from the screen in front of her.

"Is it similar to anything on record?"

After a moment, Ritsuko stopped typing in mid-command as the question registered in her brain. She looked to where Misato was standing, her countenance one of shocked disbelief.

"What's wrong?" Misato asked, confused with the way her friend was acting. "What's with that freaky look on your face?"

Ritsuko quickly regained her composure and turned her face back to screen of her terminal. "Nothing" she replied as she hastily entered a number of commands. 

"Okay..." Misato said, sounding rather unconvinced. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?" she asked a few moments later.

Ritsuko sighed, knowing her friend would refuse to let it drop until she told her something semi-credible. "I was shocked." she admitted. "I mean, how often do you think of doing something so obvious before I do?"

Misato blinked. "What do you mean?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "Never mind." she said as she intently watched the flat-screen monitor in front of her. 

"What's going on? What are you doing?" Misato asked, feeling more than a little confused at Ritsuko's behavior.

"Just checking something I should have thought of about a lot sooner" Ritsuko answered. "I'm running a check on the unidentified pattern. It should be done any minute now."

As if on cue, the computer displayed a single word to which it had matched the pattern to:

HUMAN

It then continued to narrow its search.

"What the hell does that mean?" Misato asked 

"I'm not sure exactly." Ritsuko replied. _Could it be that the angel's even _think_ like us? They're close to us genetically... If an angel has somehow entered Asuka's mind... Would we really be able to tell any difference if it decided to take control of her? What if it decides on a different target?_

Ritsuko's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gasp from Misato, which was soon followed by one of her own as soon as she looked back at the next two words displayed by the monitor.

  
  


AN:

Sorry its taken so long... this particular chapter is really part of a _much_ longer one... but due to difficulties beyond my control its taking forever to write. I thus decided to release this portion of it while I work on tweaking and fiddling with its other half. Please forgive my inept writing skills and slow speed... I really am trying.


	9. Part Ninth

** M I N D G A M E S **

_Part Ninth_

"What's going on? What are you doing?" Misato asked, feeling more than a little confused at Ritsuko's behavior.

"Just checking something I should have thought of about a lot sooner" Ritsuko answered. "I'm running a check on the unidentified pattern. It should be done any minute now."

As if on cue, the computer displayed a single word to which it had matched the pattern to:

HUMAN

It then continued to narrow its search.

"What the hell does that mean?" Misato asked

"I'm not sure exactly." Ritsuko replied. _Could it be that the angel's even _think_ like us? They're close to us genetically... If an angel has somehow entered Asuka's mind... Would we really be able to tell any difference if it decided to take control of her? What if it decides on a different target?_

Ritsuko's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gasp from Misato, which was soon followed by one of her own as soon as she looked back at the next two words displayed by the monitor.

M I N D

"Wouldn't it just _suck_ if the computer said something along the lines of 'ACCESS DENIED'?" the young man grinned evilly for a moment then sighed. "Back to work..."

G A M E S

"Just _when_, exactly, were you planning on telling me about this?" Misato asked, her voice emphasizing her displeasure. It was the first words she had spoken since leaving the NERV facility.

Asuka had groaned inwardly. Things had gone badly ever since she had left the entry plug. When she got to the Observation Deck, she was greeted by a very serious-looking Misato and Ritsuko. "Asuka," Ritsuko had began, "After the last angel attack, did anything unusual happen to you?"

From there it had all gone downhill. The blond scientist asked her question after question, which Asuka naturally answered as evasively as possible. Finding that her line of inquiry was going nowhere fast, the good Dr. Akagi decided to pull out all the stops and show the German pilot the brain wave graph, which was conveniently labeled with Asuka's and Shinji's names.

Looking back, Asuka supposed she might have chosen a better response than what she did, but she had spoken simply without thinking.

"You mean you already _know_?"

What followed was another barrage of distressing and probing questions directed at her _and_ Shinji regarding the events of the past two days. Eventually, Ritsuko told Misato, who had been for the most part silent throughout the interrogation, that what she had should be enough for now and then dismissed Asuka to get changed. Misato greeted her at the door of locker room soon after she was done and told her that she'd drive her home.

_Which brings us back to the present situation..._ Asuka thought ruefully .

"Well?" Misato said, insisting on a response to her previous question.

"Would you have believed me even if I had?" Asuka asked.

Misato was silent for a long moment the, only sound to be heard was the wiper blades clearing the windshield from the heavy downpour. "I... I'm not sure Asuka." she finally said, her voice losing all of its earlier edge. "I'd like to think that I would have... in the very least have had it seriously investigated..."

"And have me removed as a pilot and give wondergirl my EVA..." Asuka muttered under her breath.

Misato, distracted with the task of driving in poor weather, didn't hear the remark.

Shinji, on the other hand, heard it quite well. "Why do you say that Asuka?" he asked impulsively. "Do you really believe that Misato has it in for you?"

Asuka was startled by the sudden question. Even more troubling was she really didn't know the answer to that. _'Do I?'_ she wondered privately. She wanted to refute it, but there was a small part of her that thought that was _exactly_ the case. It was just a whisper of a voice inside Asuka's head... hardly noticeable amidst the din of her typical thoughts... but it emanated from her very core, and it insisted on being heard. "I wanted to take care things myself... on my own." she muttered, '_...because I can't trust anybody else to be there for me. I'm all alone_.'

Shinji recognized that Asuka was feeling quite similar to the way she had in her dream the night before. Loneliness, despair, and betrayal beat against the thin mental barriers that separated the two of them. He once more felt the overpowering desire to shield her from these feelings in any way he could. "No one can do _everything_ by themselves, Asuka. You're _human_, and part of being human is needing to rely on other human beings from time to time... You don't _have_ to do everything on your own." Shinji paused for a moment. "You're not alone." He said finally.

Asuka's emotions had become a maelstrom of contradictions. Part of her wanted to deny everything that Shinji had just said as being untrue, while another part desperately wanted to believe him. She felt comforted by Shinji's heartfelt words, though she was confused as to why exactly they meant so _much_ coming from _him_.

"Were..." The sound of Misato's voice abruptly snapped Asuka from her personal reflections. "Were you talking to him? Just now, I mean?"

"Er... yeah... how could you tell?" Asuka asked.

Misato smiled. "When I looked over you had this weird expression on your face and you were sort of staring off into space."

"Oh." was all Asuka could say.

A few moments passed before either spoke again, the squeak of the windshield wipers the only noise in the car. "I know you must be tired of answering questions by now," Misato said, breaking the silence, "But would you mind if I ask you one more question?"

"Sure," Asuka replied. "But I can't guarantee you I'll answer it."

"Fair enough." Misato said with a nod. She waited a few moments before speaking, as if she were choosing her next words carefully. "What's it feel like?" she asked finally.

"Excuse me?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

Misato chewed the corner of her bottom lip. "I mean... what's it like having Shinji in your head?"

Asuka sighed and sank back into her seat. _Couldn't she have asked for something a little easier to answer? _

"Sorry," Misato said apologetically. "But I just had to ask."

"It's not that, Misato." Asuka replied, "its just that... I don't really know where to begin, exactly. I haven't really thought about it all that much."

Asuka looked out her window at the rain and passing scenery, though her eyes seemed to be looking at something much farther away. There was a rather drawn out moment of silence before she continued. "You know that feeling you get when a person you know is nearby but you can't really see them?" she finally asked

Misato simply nodded, and Asuka went on to explain further. "Its the same sort of feeling when I'm talking to Shinji. I can _feel_ that he's there, even though I can't really see him."

"How strange." Misato commented.

"Yeah..." Asuka replied absently as her gaze traveled down to her feet. '_Stranger yet, I think I've gotten kind of used to it..._'

M I N D 

"About time for some deep introspection by Shinji, don't you think?"

Apache yawned in response.

"Yeah, I know, but we have to stick to _some_ basis of his character..."

G A M E S 

Not too much later, as Asuka and Misato returned to the apartment they all called home, Shinji was floating in the Void and doing some very hard thinking.

'_Things have changed..._' he concluded after some time. '_I'm not really sure just how much... but there's no doubt: things have really changed for me... and I think some things have changed for Asuka, too_.'

'_Is it all just a result this weird accident and the weird condition we've found ourselves ?_' he found himself wondering. '_If Ritsuko finds a way to get things straightened out, will any of this matter at all? Will everything go back to the way it was before this happened?_'

Shinji was surprised to find himself disliking that notion. '_Since when did I become such an advocate for change? All my life I've been doing my best to ensure that as little change as possible was allowed to come into my life... at least before I got that letter saying to report to Tokyo-3. Why am I just _now_ experiencing this sudden "change of heart" over the matter?_'

He pondered this. '_Does it really matter why I've changed? The fact is that I have, and I sort of like it. That is what is really important._' He paused as he came upon a sudden epiphany. '_This... this is probably the first time in my life I've ever... liked... something about myself._'

Several seconds of shocked silence followed. "How strange..." he mumbled, echoing Misato's earlier sentiment.

M I N D 

"This coming from a boy who pilots a giant humanoid robot against equally giant monsters that are able to create explosions in cross-shaped patterns. Hmmm..."

- G - A - M - E - S -

Night had long since fallen at the Nevada NERV experimental testing facility, its staff having celebrated the first successful testing of the NERV Super Solenoid Engine earlier in the day. Their have been many great "firsts" for mankind such as the first fire, the first lunar landing, but the first successful construction and activation of an S2 engine was assured to surpass all these things in the history books yet to come.

If a certain individual had their way, this famous "first" would become a not-so-famous "last"...

In the cover of darkness, a shadow slipped through the barbed wire fence and up to a large non-descript warehouse building. A dark gloved hand quickly and confidently typed the correct code into the keypad, turning the red security light to green, signifying passage was now clear.

Beneath his suit's face mask, Roger Kestrel grinned. '_This is too easy._' he thought with smug satisfaction. '_Pity... I was hoping for more of a challenge than_ _this_'

Quickly slipping inside the warehouse, Kestrel immediately saw the hulking form of Unit-04, laying on its back, partially submerged in a bath of cryo-fluid.

'_Sleeping giant..._' Kestrel sneered mentally as he made his way closer, '_Indeed. How dare that Ikari seek to interfere with the Divine plan of Instrumentality. Does he not realize that it is inevitable?_' Producing a small circular object from his backpack, he proceeded to attach it to the EVA unit's armor.

Kestrel became aware of something cold being pressed to the back of his head. This realization was followed by the unmistakable sound of a safety being released. Kestrel froze in place. '_Damn! I guess I got careless..._'

With the fraction of a second that was left in his life, he wondered if he'd hear the shot coming before he died.

- M - I - N - D -

"...!?"

- G - A - M - E - S -

Asuka and Pen-Pen lounged in front of the television while Misato tackled a half dozen folders of paperwork and reports. Despite the day's earlier activities and startling revelations, the current mood was rather comfortable and relaxed. Rather predictably, the peaceful respite did not last long. Without so much as a warning, a disruptive ringing noise intruded upon the quiet of the apartment. "Telephone!" both females called out on reflex. As one might have predicted, the phone continued to ring.

Asuka's attention diverted from the TV long enough to try and reason as to why the noisy phone had gone unanswered as of yet. Her eyes met with Pen-Pen's, whose look seemed to say "What? You can't possibly expect _me_ to answer it, can you?"

It was then that she became aware of the feeling of amusement that was emanating from Shinji. "Its nice to know that I'm still missed around here." he commented.

Muttering to herself about penguins and lazy guardians/co-workers, Asuka dragged herself to her feet and went to answer the insistent ringing. "Hello?" she said monotonously picking up the phone quickly before the answering machine did.

"Asuka?" asked the familiar voice on the other end of the phone. "Its Hikari..."

"Oh, hello Hikari." Asuka greeted her friend, this time her voice filled with a little more animation. "What's up?"

"I was just calling to see if everything was all right," Hikari explained, "since you, Shinji, and Rei weren't in school today, everyone got to worrying something was wrong..."

'_Wondergirl wasn't in school?_' Asuka wondered, for she hadn't seen Rei at headquarters. Shrugging internally, she dismissed the matter and continued her conversation. "Nothing's wrong. They just called us in for some unscheduled tests, that's all. What did I miss in class today?"

"Not all that much, really," Hikari replied, "just the assignment of a composition paper that's due next week ..."

"Forget homework." Asuka laughed. "Did anything interesting happen gossip-wise? Involving a particular outstanding member of the student body and a particular jock?"

Asuka could almost hear Hikari's blush over the phone-line. "Cut it out, Asuka..." Hikari replied, her voice halfway pleading, "What if Shinji overhears you? He's one of Touji's best friends!"

Asuka laughed again. "Alright, I'll cut it out. But I'm sure he isn't listening at the moment."

"Huh?" Hikari asked, sounding a little confused at her friend's choice of words.

"Er... nevermind..." Asuka replied hastily, realizing what she had just said.

"Okay..." Hikari said, a little confused by Asuka's strange behavior. She thought about it for a moment and realized something. "I think that was the first time I've ever heard you say anything about Shinji without an insult attached."

"What!?" Asuka choked out, surprised at the sudden turn her friend had taken the conversation. "That's not true..."

"I pretty sure it _is_ true." Hikari insisted. "Though I could be wrong..."

'_Do I really treat him so rottenly?_' Asuka wondered. "I can't be like that _all_ the time." She explained, though it was more to herself than to Hikari.

"I never said you were..." Hikari said, her tone placating. "But it sounds like you just _might_ be changing your opinion in regards to him."

"I..." Asuka had intended to deny the notion of it on reflex, but found herself hesitating. _'I...I guess my opinion of Shinji has changed since the incident... how could it not have?_' "I'm sooo sure, Hikari." she said sarcastically, though her heart just wasn't in it.

"So," Hikari said, ready to change the subject yet again, "are you and Shinji going to be in school tomorrow?"

Asuka took a moment to think before she answered. "I think so... but I'm not sure, really." she replied. "Things at work have been a little crazy."

"Well, if you're not able to make it tomorrow, I'll be glad to drop your homework off so you don't get behind." Hikari offered.

"Thanks, Hikari." Asuka replied, "See you tomorrow."

Misato entered the room as Asuka placed the receiver back in its cradle. "Who was it?" she asked in a conversational voice.

"Hikari." Asuka replied, "She was wondering if I'd be in school tomorrow."

"Oh....Okay." Misato said. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but was somehow unable to get the words out. Asuka shrugged mentally and turned to leave. "Asuka, wait a moment. I need to... talk to you."

Asuka turned back to face the older woman and waited expectantly. "I want to say that I'm... I'm sorry." Misato began, though she did not make eye contact with her young charge. "I feel as though I've failed you at being your guardian."

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked, confused at this sudden confession.

"If I were doing my job properly, you wouldn't have felt the need to keep yours and Shinji's 'condition' a secret." Misato explained.

Asuka looked away. "That's... not all your fault, Misato." she said.

Misato raised her eyes and the fire of determination returned to them. "I just want you to know that, in the future, you can tell me anything that's bothering you, and it'll stay strictly between us if that's what you want." Misato's eyes softened. "Okay Asuka?"

Asuka met her guardian's gaze and the corners of her mouth upturned slightly in a sort of semi-smile. "Okay."

Misato smiled sunnily. "Good." Satisfied, she left the room to return to her paperwork.

Asuka returned to her place in front of the television, for lack of anything better to do with her time. Finding that the program she had been watching had lost its appeal, she wandered aimlessly through the electronic wasteland that was post-second impact cable television in search of something to occupy her attention.

"Asuka," Shinji interrupted several long moments after she had begun her search for something good on, "What's the real reason you didn't want to tell Misato or Ritsuko about what happened to us? I know its not simply because you thought they wouldn't believe you. There's more to it than that."

Asuka stopped in mid-channel flip, quite stunned by the question.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Shinji said quickly, hoping that his prying didn't anger her.

'_He'll know if I'm lying... but why should I lie? I can tell him... can't I?_'Asuka took a deep breath and exhaled it in a long, drawn-out sigh. Her decision made, the German girl surged forward on her chosen course.

"It was..." Asuka rasped, her throat having gone completely dry. She coughed and tried to clear the obstruction. "It was because... I was afraid I'd be taken off the active duty roster."

"What do you mean, Asuka?" Shinji asked, feeling more than a little confused by her answer.

"I didn't want to be taken off active duty."

This explanation did not help clear Shinji's confusion. "But why is that so important to you?"

Asuka sighed, not sure how she could explain it any better. After another period of silence, she responded to his question in the most direct words she could manage. "I was afraid they'd stop me from piloting my EVA."

At first Shinji could not comprehend what Asuka. '_Why would she...?_' He wondered, then it dawned on him. '_Could it possibly be that EVA's as important to her life as it is to mine?_' Shinji felt smacking his forehead in disgust. '_Of course it is!_' After all, Asuka had been involved with EVA piloting for a much longer period of time, so naturally it would at least be as important to her as it was to Shinji, if not more so. Asuka was so different from himself on the outside, he would have never guessed that they shared similar feelings about being an EVA pilot.

Asuka felt Shinji go from bewildered to... something else as he digested what sh had just said. '_Will this change... change what? His feelings towards me? Why am I so apprehensive about that possibility?_' She already knew the answer: He'd said that she wasn't alone... and she believed he meant what he said. Somehow those little words had become infinitely precious to her.

"I would have never guessed." Shinji commented after a indeterminate period of silence.

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked, confused by both her stormy emotions and by his unexpected choice of words.

"You act so differently than I do... you're popular, aggressive, full of life and energy... but you still feel similar to the way I do towards piloting EVA." Shinji explained.

Asuka smiled, relaxing back into the bean bag chair she had seated herself in. "Who would have guessed?" she joked, feeling as though a great burden had been taken off her heart. She could almost see Shinji smile his reply back at her.

- M - I - N - D -

"Waffy urges... taking over... must maintain character integrity... GAAHHH!"

The young man collapses back into his chair in exhaustion, his breathing labored from the amount of will he'd been forced to exert.

Apache rolled his eyes in disgust.

"So what?" the young man shot back in defense, "I'm allowed to be melodramatic at times, aren't I?"

G A M E S

Kouzou Fuyutski watched as Gendo Ikari stood on the catwalks of the EVA cages, overlooking the purple behemoth that was Unit 01. '_What goes on in that mind of yours?_' Fuyutski wondered, not for the first time in his life, '_Do you feel anything when you see her? Are you even _capable_ of feeling anything anymore except your dark desire and hatred?_'

"Was there something you wanted, professor?" Gendo asked suddenly, though he still showed no other indication that he was even aware of the older man's very existence.

Kouzou was slightly taken aback, though he was to the point that little about this man Gendo Ikari truly surprised him anymore. "There was a report of an attempted sabotage at the R and D site in Nevada ." Fuyutski replied, after a moment. "They were attempting to get at Unit 04, it appears."

"I was already aware of this." Gendo replied rather flatly, telling Kouzou he'd better get to the point.

How Gendo could know this roused Fuyutski's suspicions, as the report had only come through mere moments ago. "It seems our Mr. Kaji was involved in the prevention of the saboteur's success, having shot the intruder himself."

"I fail to see the problem." Gendo said, his voice as even and uninterested as ever.

Kouzou cleared his throat before continuing. "It seems the details of body's disposal are missing, as well as any information as to how exactly the intruder intended to sabotage the EVA."

"Really?" Gendo asked, though his voice showed no surprise, "How careless of Mr. Kaji to fail to put that into his report. Be sure to reprimand him upon his return."

Fuyutski's eyes narrowed. '_What are you getting at, Ikari?_' "I was wondering what Mr. Kaji was doing there in first place?"

"I assigned him to see to the security of the first test of Unit 04's Super Solenoid engine." the elder Ikari stated simply.

'_Could he possibly have anticipated the attack on Unit 04? But how?_' Kouzou found himself wondering. Something was going on, that Fuyutski was absolutely sure of. But to what end did it all serve? The balance of things had been greatly upset by a number of recent events. Kouzou knew better than to think them unrelated instances, but that which tied them together still eluded him. '_What dangerous game are you playing now?_'

M I N D

"I love a good conspiracy, Don't you?" the young man asked no one in particular. "But ask yourself this, does it have anything to do with the real plot? But then, of course, you'd have to ask yourself if you knew what the real plot was anyway and..."

The young man was interrupted by not so gentle nudge to his kidneys by his cohort Apache.

"I get the message." the young man replied. "Back to the plot, real or otherwise." he added under his breath.

Apache gave him a sharp look that spoke volumes of what _he_ thought of the young man's comments. "You are absolutely no fun." grumbled the young man as he returned his attention to the computer screen ahead of him, his fingers once again stumbling across the keyboard.

G A M E S

Asuka yawned. Again. Television had long since lost her interest and Misato had not yet finished ruining the perfectly good food that was to be their dinner. Deciding she might as well take a nap before she ate anything that was sure to ruin her chances at a decent night's sleep, Asuka stumbled to her feet and groggily made her way to her room, where she promptly threw herself on her futon and began to drift off into oblivion...

She was in some sort of grassy field, though that mattered very little as she realized she was not alone in this place. _HE_ was here too... a fact that overwhelmed her with unadulterated joy. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, eagerly wrapping her arms around him, nearly bringing the two of them toppling to the ground.

"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji..." She repeated his name as if it were some sort of holy mantra, a ward against all the unpleasant memories that made up her awareness.

Shinji was rather surprised for several reasons. First, the void had changed into the dreamscape so suddenly, and with little in the way of the violent shuddering that he had always associated with the translation of empty mind space into the now present reality. Second, and even more confusingly, was the red haired German pilot's behavior. "A-Asuka?!?" he managed to get out.

"Of course, silly boy." she replied. "Who were you expecting?" She snuggled her face into his chest a little more as Shinji found himself putting his arms around her. After a few moments Asuka pulled back slightly, though did not seem to want to break their shared embrace, and looked into Shinji's eyes, and smiled peacefully.

"Asuka, I...." Shinji began, before he realized words weren't necessary or even desired for that matter. Asuka already knew whatever he was going to say next. She responded by pulling him closer to herself and wasn't going to let go for anything.

Shinji enjoyed the hug quite a bit, seeing it was the first show of genuine physical affection that had been shown him by anyone in a long while. He knew it was genuine too, he could feel it emanating from Asuka, as sure as if it were his own emotion. She was happy for the simple fact he existed.

The feeling was not to be long lasting. It was suddenly interrupted by another sensation, not nearly as pleasant.

Asuka noticed the air around her turn cold and the once sunny field had now darkened from the ominous clouds overhead. She looked at Shinji only to find that he was becoming rapidly transparent. "Shinji..." She said, forcing herself to sound (mostly) calm. "What's going on?"

Shinji looked at himself as the feeling of his consciousness being pulled away... towards someplace else grew stronger every moment. His form was fading from existence, mimicking his rapidly deteriorating awareness. "I....I'm not sure." he replied more calmly than he actually felt at the moment.

Asuka attempted to hug Shinji closer to herself, so as to ensure he couldn't leave her, but instead her arms passed through Shinji's now incorporeal body. "Shinji!" she found herself crying out in desperation and met his eyes, the one thing that had not yet begun to fade from existence. Tears rolling unashamedly down her cheeks she pleaded with him and whatever cruel twist of fate dared to take him from her side. "Please, don't.... don't leave me alone." her voice ragged with emotion.

Despite all his own fears, the look in Asuka's eyes and her heartfelt words gave Shinji a sense of calm. "You're not alone Asuka." Shinji reassured her. "I can't leave you alone. Not now. I'll find a way back to you. I promise." With that Shinji's soulful blue eyes began to fade into nonexistence as well, and soon, Shinji was no more.

"Shinji..." Asuka stared on in disbelief. "NO! SHHHIIIIIINNNNNJJJJJIIIIIIII!!!"

M I N D

Cerebral digestion process has entered final stages.

...

Did anyone else hear a belching noise?

G A M E S

Ritsuko, Maya and a large number of people belonging to the NERV technical and science staff had been reassigned through emergency measures to work on finding a way to get Shinji's mind back in his body. Using data gathered from Units 01 and 02 about the beam the angel had hit them with, they had gone about devising a method that would accomplish such a goal. At the moment Ritsuko and Maya were working furiously to put the latest method through a MAGI computer model test to see if it worked more than in just theory. If Ritsuko was right about the developments that had been occurring since Shinji and Asuka began cohabitation in a single nervous system, then time was of the essence if they hoped to recover the young male pilot.

"Are you done with the Unit 01's AT field and the particle beam cannon's calculations yet, Maya?" Ritsuko paused in her work a moment to check up on her younger protege.

"Yes Ma'am." Maya replied, "I'm routing it to your terminal now."

Ritsuko inserted the modules into the program and sent it to the MAGI supercomputers to digest and regurgitate the results. Relaxing for the first time in a long while, Ristuko slumped back into her chair as the program ran the simulation.

"Ma'am?" Maya's voice interrupted the blond woman's brief respite. "Do you think Pilot Ikari will be okay after all of this? I mean, we don't know what else the angel did to him or..."

"I'm just as clueless as you, Maya." Ritsuko replied. "All that we can do for him is preform to the best of our ability and hope that its enough."

Maya was silent a moment before speaking again. "I guess so, its just... He's endured, sacrificed and done so much for all of us... I just wish their was more we could do for him."

Ritsuko simply smiled at her younger colleague's sincerity and empathy. The smile was short lived as her cell phone began to ring.

M I N D

For whom does the ringtones toll I wonder?

G A M E S

Asuka awoke to the sound of a scream, only later realizing it had been her own. _Shinji... Gone... No... Was just a dream... It can't be real..._

And yet it was.

Within a mere two seconds of Asuka's scream, Misato was at her young charge's side. "Asuka?! What's wrong?"

Asuka barely heard her guardian as the realities clashed around her. "Shniji..."she whispered brokenly, "Shinji's... gone."

"What?!?" Misato squawked. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"

Asuka finally took note of her elder roommate and turned to face her. "He's gone!" She repeated with a frantic quality in her voice. "He's gone, Misato! I can't feel him anymore! He vanished right in front of my eyes!"

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream Asuka?" Misato asked hoping against hope that was the case.

"It wasn't just a dream, dammit!" Asuka growled. "I can't feel him anymore, Misato. Weren't you listening?"

"Calm down Asuka..." Misato said, trying to gain some control over the situation.

"Calm down?!" Asuka was now experiencing full blown hysteria. "How can you possibly say that at a time like this?!" Asuka looked away from Misato, eyes fixing at some unseen point in the far distance. "Shinji's... gone... and... and..." The dam inside her finally broke as a wrenching sob escaped her lips.

Misato, being the brilliant tactician that she was knew that when faced with a situation beyond your understanding or expertise, the best solution was to give the problem to someone else to solve. Pulling the red headed girl to her feet with one hand and hitting the speed dial for Ritsuko's number on her cell phone with her other, Misato prepared to execute Katsuragi Special Secret tactic #3: Get Ritsuko to take care of it.

Ritsuko answered three seconds later as the two females were exiting the apartment and making their way to Misato's car. Misato quickly explained what was happening to her old friend.

"Its as I feared." Ritsuko replied, "Get her here immediately."

"I was already on my way... HEY! Wait a just a second! You knew this would happen?!"

The woman on the other end hesitated. "Not exactly, Misato..."

"But you said..." Misato protested.

"I'll explain more when I see you in person." Ritsuko cut her off. "There is no time to waste."

"Dammit!!" Misato snarled as she cut the connection and loaded Asuka into her car.

Asuka remained in a state of shock. Loneliness threatened to consume her now exposed psyche. She had let her shields down, let herself trust in another human being again. She had been struck at the exact moment she had been the most vulnerable. Now she was losing herself in the corridors of her own mind. Just as she felt she was about to succumb completely, she felt a tiny voice in the back of her head whisper insistently to her '_Don't give up on him yet!_'

She clung to those words as a life preserver in the turbulent seas of her emotions. He had promised. She would believe in him. Settling that matter, Asuka steeled herself for whatever was to come next.

M I N D

And now, live, from the belly of the beast...

G A M E S

'_Where am I?_' he wondered, as his awareness drifted amidst the nothingness. '_What happened?_'

Forming thoughts grew increasingly harder for him. He felt himself weaker and weaker, as if his very existence was a guttering candle flame in the wind.

'_Would it really be so bad if I just disappeared?' he found himself wondering. No more Evangelion, No more cold hearted bastard of a father, no more being chewed out by Misato, no more..._'

He stopped the train of thought as a single name filled his entire awareness.

'_Asuka..._'

He could still see the look on her face... It both hurt and comforted him. It hurt to know that he was at the cause of such anguish for her, though in a perverse way it felt good to know that she cared enough about him to be hurt in such a way.

_I'll find a way back to you. I promise._

The words echoed loudly in his consciousness. He'd promised her. But did he really owe it to her to keep that promise? Until recently, all she had ever done for him was berate him and make him feel small and useless... much like everything and everyone else in his life. Why should he return to that?

"Giving up already?" a faint voice asked. "After you've come all this way? You're just going to give up? Just like that?"

_But I've been hurt._

"So what? Human beings will always hurt other human beings. Why should _you_ be any different than the rest of humanity. Pain was the second form of communication that Humanity learned, and has never forgotten its lessons. Pain always was and likely always will be the universal language."

A long period of silence followed.

_How do I get back?_

"By remembering the first form of communication that humanity learned."

_Which is...?_

"Love."

M I N D

Sappy, but when you think about it...

G A M E S

"So what you're telling me is that Asuka's mind has been _eating_ Shinji this whole time?" Misato gave Ritsuko a look of incredulity.

"To put it in its most simple of terms, yes." Ritsuko replied, not even looking up from the terminal she was working at. The rest of the observation room was a flurry of activity, Everyone now working desperately to ready the operation that might save the famed pilot of Unit-01.

"And you knew this was happening?" Misato asked, getting angry.

"Yes and no." Ritsuko answered, "After comparing Shinji's waves with those from before the incident, I found some minuscule irregularities. I suspected this might be happening, but finding a way to separate their two minds took priority."

Hearing this, Misato calmed down considerably. Looking out the window where Eva units 00 and 02 were waiting to begin the retrieval procedure, she sighed. "So... what happens now."

"We have two options." Ritsuko stopped typing and turned to look at her old friend. "We can try and save Shinji, but run the risk of irreparably damaging Asuka, and there's no guarantee it would even work. The magi's simulations only give a thirty percent chance of sucess as it is."

Misato didn't like the sound of it, but she knew Ritsuko was just being honest about the situation. "What's the second option?"

Ritsuko frowned. "We leave things as they are, and try and find a more sure way of retrieval."

"Can we do that?" Misato asked.

"Not if we want Shinji back the way he was. Within an hour, if these current readings are accurate, Shinji will begin to deteriorate, rapidly losing memories and peices of his personality."

"NO!!!"

The supposedly private conversation was interrupted by a frantic Asuka, listening in through the communication systems of Unit 02. She cradled in her lap the inert, hospital gowned body of one Shinji Ikari in her arms as they floated in the LCL of the entry plug. "We _have_ to save Shinji!"

"I know, Asuka. But we have to think about the possibility of another Angel attack, and..."

"To hell with the Angels Misato! If we can't save Shinji, the rest of Humanity can just go hang!" Asuka growled vehemently. Then, in a much calmer voice, she added. "I won't pilot without him."

"Pilot Sorhyu is correct." a quiet voice broke in. "Pilot Ikari... cannot be replaced."

Ritsuko arched an eyebrow. '_That was unexpected._' she thought to herself. '_I never would have guessed Rei to feel that way._'

Misato sighed again, knowing she was trapped. "Ritsuko, how long until we can start the operation."

Ritsuko checked the terminal's screen one last time. After taking three full seconds to examine the information displayed there, she turned back to Misato. "We can begin momentarily."

M I N D

Can you feel the tension in the air?

Hey!

Throwing things at me is a little uncalled for!

But then again, some say the same about these little interludes.

- G - A - M - E - S -

Asuka looked down at the motionless body she held in her arms. "Just hold on Shinji, just hold on." She whispered in his ear, knowing full well that the body could not really hear her words. It was more for her own peace of mind anyway, so it didn't really matter if Shinji's body heard her or not.

He had promised her. He hadn't broken a promise to her during this whole ordeal, he wouldn't start now. She believed in him.

He'd find a way back to her.

"If you don't idiot,"She muttered pulling him close as if he were some boy sized teddy bear "I swear I will personally find you and beat the living snot out of you."

"Are you ready, Asuka?" Dr. Akagi's voice asked over the com channel.

"Yes. You better not screw this up Rei." she said looking at the feed from Unit 00

The image of Rei nodded gravely. "I will not."

That being said. Asuka braced herself for whatever.

Rei brought the particle cannon to bear on the form of Unit 02, focusing hard on the required pattern of AT feild required to make the shot work correctly. The telltale beeping of target lock brought about the almost reflexive trigger pull response.

Asuka saw the white light approach once again as if it were in slow motion. Despite her earlier determination to see this through, she now felt very afraid of what was to come. The Light engulfed unit 02 and her every nerve became alive with pain...

A word from the author

Sorry it took so long. Yes, I know you all hate me. Every one does. So I left it rot for two years. I had issues to deal with. Hopefully it won't be another two years for the next chapter.

Hope you enjoyed this.


	10. Part Tenth

# **Mind** # **Games** #

_Part Tenth_

At first, there was only darkness and sound.

_click-Clack... click-Clack... click-Clack._..

Red circles of light appear only to rush past in a blur.

_click-Clack... click-Clack... click-Clack..._

Soon the light became brighter, illuminating her surroundings in shades of red and orange. She was sitting in a disturbingly familiar rail car, seated directly across from one Shinji Ikari, who was looking at her as if he could see right through her, his patented serene smile both on his lips and in his eyes.

Asuka could not bear to meet his gaze for some reason. She turned away, only to find herself looking into the eyes of a little girl who was sitting beside her.

The girl looked at Asuka with an unwavering gaze for a long moment, then cocked her head to one side questioningly. "Why did you look away from him?" she asked, then smiled. "He's awfully nice. I like him."

"Wha...?" Asuka stammered, pulling back a little but somehow unable to look anywhere else.

"Besides," the little girl went on, "Haven't you been _really_ wanting to see him?"

Asuka blushed at hearing this, finally breaking her eyes away to study her hands in her lap. "Well... I...uh..." she continued to stammer.

Meanwhile, Shinji couldn't help but study Asuka. He couldn't make out the conversation she was having with the girl next to her, but the girl barely even registered upon Shinji's consciousness. His simple happiness at seeing Asuka again was near deafening, drowning all other details beneath her strangely comforting presence.

"Well done Shinji," said a voice from beside him, releasing him from his reverie. He found a young boy sitting beside him, smiling warmly. "You've come quite a long way in such a short time." the boy continued. "Your mother would be proud."

"My...mother?" Shinji asked, confused.

"Don't sweat it." the boy replied nonchalantly, then smiled at him. "Besides, there are more important things that require your attention." he said with an indicative head jerk in the direction directly across from where the two of them were sitting. Shinji reflexively looked in the direction the boy had motioned towards only to lock gazes with Asuka. For a moment, neither pilot dared to so much as breath, then, simultaneously they opened their mouths to speak.

Any words that might have followed, however, were drowned out by the sounding horn that signaled the train's entrance into another tunnel.

The world once more faded into darkness and sound.

# M # I # N # D #

The sound of typing stopped as the young man leaned back in his chair with a troubled look on his face. "I know where I want to go with it, I just can't seem to figure out how to get there."

He sat there, peering at his monitor over his steepled fingertips, lost in thought. Suddenly a crooked smile swept his features, and his hands once more shot across the keyboard, plunging ahead on the stroke of inspiration that had just struck him.

- G - A - M - E - S -

"What went wrong Ritsu?" Misato asked looking at hospital room windows. She sounded... broken somehow. Like something inside her had snapped.

The blond scientist shook her head. "The Magi have been unable to pinpoint it. There was only a 30 chance of success in the first..." Ritsuko stopped short at the look on Misato's face. "Look, it might have worked. Its still too early to tell."

Though it might have been somewhat of a stretch, Ritsuko hadn't been lying in that the procedure might have been successful after all. Both Pilots remained comatose, and their brain wave patterns hadn't been able to tell her anything. It had only been eighteen hours since the attempt to free Shinji from Asuka's brain, and it was still too early yet to assess the damage.

Taking a closer look at her old friend, Ritsuko noticed just how haggard and pale Misato's face looked. "You look like hell you know." she said.

Misato rubbed at her eyes as if it somehow alleviated her need for rest. "I'll be alright."

Ritsuko shook her head. "You need to catch some sleep. You're in no shape for an emergency. If an Angel were to attack now, You wouldn't be able to preform your duties, and with two EVAs without pilots, we need everyone else in top form."

Misato took a moment for that to sink in then slumped her shoulders in defeat. "You're right." she sighed. "You'll call my cell if anything new occurs?"

Ritsuko smiled. "You know I will. Now go get some rest."

Misato nodded absently as she shuffled off in the direction of the nearest waiting room. Ritusko returned to her contemplation of the unresponsive form of the pilot of Unit 01 for a moment then turned to leave.

The staff would instantly notify her of any changes in the pilots conditions, allowing her to keep her word to Misato. Commander Ikari, apparently had more important projects for her than seeing to the well being of his son.

- M - I - N - D -

And now, making his first _real_ appearance in Mind Games...

- G - A - M - E - S -

Ryouji Kaji shook his head and sighed wearily as he looked at the zealot sitting across the interrogation table from him. "You know, things would go easier on you if you simply cooperated."

The man's reply was to spit in Kaji's face. Without changing the expression on his face, Kaji wiped it away, pausing a moment to look at his hand. The spittle was tinged red with blood. While he had been unconscious, the intruder went through having his molars pulled. Kaji had been sure an operative skilled enough to get onto this base would have had at least a suicide pill stored there, if not a two way transmitting device. His hunch had been right, but the device had been so ingeniously disguised, it had taken two real teeth before finding the right ones.

Needless to say, NERV didn't keep many dentists on the payroll, and the base lacked the proper painkillers and equipment to properly remove the teeth. They made do with the fact the man was already unconsciousness and a handy pair of needlenose pliers.

Kaji frowned sympathetically. "That must hurt, Mr. Kestrel. You sure you don't want anything for it?" he asked, pleased with how the saboteur reacted slightly to hearing his name used. They were able to gather a great deal of information about him in a short amount of time. He was working for SEELE, that much was quite obvious. He also held several degrees in theology and physics, and a distinguished background in the military. Why had SEELE sent him? He seemed a bit flashy for the old men's style. What could have possibly been the reason behind his activation?

"You can't stop it, you know." Kestrel said, surprising Kaji and derailing his train of thought.

"Stop what?" Kaji asked, though he could easily guess what the man was about to say next.

"The divine plan." Kestral continued. "It _will_ come to fruition. Blasphemies like your precious S2 engine only hamper its progress, but they cannot halt it. Instrumentality will occur."

'_Instrumentality... Does this man really _know_ what it entails?_' Kaji maintained his poker face, however. "Is that so?" he asked, his voice betraying an unsubtle hint of patronization.

The saboteur smirked, his teeth gleaming red from the blood in his mouth. "Your arrogance will be your undoing." he said. "There are much greater forces at work here! Worthless mortals such as you and I are mere pawns. It doesn't matter what you do, You cannot change the fact that the Rapture is coming, and with it, the End of All Things!"

Kaji looked into this man's eyes, and saw the mindless fervor of religious zealotry he knew so well. '_Is he simply acting?_' he wondered. '_Its convincing... very convincing. But my gut tells me that's not the whole story here._'

"By Providence's will, NERV will fall, as will your heretic masters in SEELE!" The man continued to rant. "You may have stopped me, but Providence will choose another to see to the destruction of the Super Solenoid Engine!"

Kaji was quite surprised to hear this, though Misato was probably the only person on the planet who knew his body language well enough to detect where it might betray him. '_He _doesn't_ work for SEELE?_' his mind reeled as he analyzed the ranting man's words very carefully. '_Providence... What exactly could he mean by that? Could he be referring to...?_'

"The servants of providence are guided by the will of the divine!" the man cackled madly, flecks of spittle now following his words with alarming regularity. "We cannot possibly fail in our task!"

Shaking his head, Kaji began to get up from his place at the interrogation table. The saboteur's eyes were now clouded by some fanatical delusion, and it was impossible for him to get more information from him with his interrogation tactics. The man would soon face the professional interrogators of the U.S. NERV branch, who would be better able to extract any other useful information he might have.

'_Providence..._' Kaji pondered what the man had said as he made his way to the small room's only exit. '_Their have been rumors about..._' he shook his head as he opened the door. '_I'll simply have to look into it when I get back... home._'

- M - I - N - D -

"Billions for defense, not a penny for proper dentistry."

# G # A # M # E # S #

Somewhere amidst the vast abyss of the cosmos, a presence of thought waited, masking its existence so as not to be easily discovered. Suddenly, there was another glimmer of thought, which rapidly formed into a presence much like the first.

"Armisael, You wished council with me?" the newly arrived awareness queried.

The first presence was inert for a brief moment before responding. "Bardiel's anointed time draws ever nearer, my brother, and troubling things have been afoot amongst the Lilim."

"You have discovered something new in your watch of the Lilim's endeavors to acquire the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge?"

"I have." Armisael paused a moment before continuing. "Apparently, another Lilim attempted to sabotage their efforts, though he was stopped."

"I assume there is more to this, otherwise you would not have needed to report this to me."

"This lilim, he troubles me. His mind has been... touched by an outside source. Tainted."

"Such is not uncommon." Tabris answered dismissively. "Lilims have simple minds, and most are easily manipulated, even by their own kind."

"I do not believe it the work of another Lilim, Tabris. It seems a great deal of power was exerted to manipulate its mind, more than a Lilim is capable of exerting without our notice."

Tabris pondered this a moment before replying. "Troubling indeed."

"The news grows even more dire." Armisael continued. "This is not the first time I have noticed such a manipulators touch."

"Are you suggesting..." Tabris began.

"I remain unable to confirm." Armisael finished, leaving volumes unsaid.

"There is not much for us to do about it then. Remain watchful, Armisael."

"I will, Tabris."

With that, the two presences glimmered into nonexistence, unaware that their discourse was being carefully observed by another...

# M # I # N # D #

"The game is afoot!" the young man exclaimed, his boyish giggles startling his lazy companion. "I've always wanted to say that."

Apache gave him a rather cold look then settled back down for yet another nap.

# G # A # M # E # S #

In a place of darkness, around five colored squares of light, sat yet another gathering of the most powerful men in the world.

"Gentlemen," Chairman Keel began the meeting, "I assume you've been briefed on the interrogation of the would-be saboteur of Unit-04. Along with our own agents' investigations, this brings troubling news."

All members of the secret inner circle that was the council of SEELE nodded their affirmation. The thin man whose face was bathed in the red light spoke. "We have proof of Providence's existence, and now, they move against our goals."

"Troubling news indeed." replied the man with the long nose who sat illuminated by the color yellow. "Even more so since we still have made little in the way of progress in ferreting out this phantasmal organization."

The broad shouldered man of the green desk his ever present cigar in his hand as he nodded thoughtfully. "We only have rumors as to who exactly is behind this organization, and even less as to their real motivations." he said, then put his cigar back in his mouth.

"The only thing of which we are certain is that they are out to destroy that which we have worked so hard to create." added the man with the absurdly long nose sitting in the glow of the yellow light. "This is the first time we've actually caught one of their operatives, but all their actions, suspected or otherwise, have seemingly done in efforts to counteract our own."

"They are also irrefutably aware our existence." Said the thin man sitting by the red square of light. "Right down to their subordinates. I think it suggests that we might have a possible leak on our hands"

"While that is indeed a troubling, the matter we should be discussing is what we should do about this." the visored Keel said, once again taking charge of the meeting. "They have us at a disadvantage. We must discover more about them if we are to tilt the field in our favor. I move that we devote all available resources to this endeavor; what say you, gentlemen?"

The result was unanimous, as one by one the lights turned off.

# M # I # N # D #

"That didn't come off as sinister and foreboding as I had hoped it would." the young man said disappointed with his efforts. "Not too mention its much shorter..."

Sighing the young man looked over it yet again. Halfway through, he shrugged and shook his head. "I guess there's nothing I can do. The minutes of a business meeting can only hold so much evil foreshadowing before it becomes simply ridiculous. Leaving the important stuff unsaid is more menacing than more paragraphs of menacing dialog."

Exhaling heavily, the young man went back to work.

- G - A - M - E - S -

It had seemed an eternity since the darkness had closed in around her. It had been alright in the beginning, as she could still feel _him_ somewhere near by. As time progressed, though, she grew more and more aware of his closeness fading from her being.

The abyss she had found herself in rapidly became crushingly oppressive, suffocating her very existence with its endless emptiness. She wanted to scream, but could make no sound over the roar of the void's deafening silence. Desperation and fear began to feed upon her resolve as she found herself feeling more utterly alone then she ever had before.

'_Shinji!_'her spirit cried out, hoping that somehow he would come to her rescue, take her away from the fear and loneliness.

"I thought you didn't need that spineless little boy?" a voice asked derisively shattering the silence so suddenly it was if it never existed. "What happened to the great Asuka Langley Sohryu?"

"She..." Asuka stumbled over her response as she thought it over. What _had _happened to her? "She... changed." she finally answered.

"Changed, huh?" the voice said with a sneer. "For the worse, it seems. You've grown _weak_."

Asuka bristled at that remark. If there was one thing she could not bear, it was to be called the "w" word. "What do you mean, weak?" she growled dangerously.

"You never needed anyone before. Now you need that pathetic wimp to come and help you?"

"Stop talking about him like that!" Asuka flared, even more angry at the repeated insults to Shinji than she was at being called weak. "He isn't like that at all!"

"Oh?" the voice sounded surprised. "What _is_ he like then?"

"He's brave." Asuka said without even stopping to think about it. "He's strong and he's selfless."

"Is that all?" the voice asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"No." Asuka continued her voice growing more thoughtful. "He's gentle... and caring... and he... he makes me feel... safe... like I can trust him."

"_Do_ you trust him?" the voice asked. "Can you honestly say that you trust him not to betray you if he ever finds out what you really are? That you truly believe he will never leave you or hurt you?"

"I... I'm not sure." Asuka replied. "I want to believe it..."

"Of course you _want_ to believe it." the voice said, sounding a little exasperated at her response. "But that was not the question. Do you believe in _him_?"

"I..." Asuka stopped before answering to better think about the question. She felt closer to Shinji than she would have ever thought she was capable of... prior to their ordeal anyway. But their sudden bond had grown from being forced together, what would happen when it was over? Was the bond they had developed over the past few days a matter of circumstance or was it something more. She just didn't know for sure. Could she trust while being unsure?

"Do you believe in him or not?" the voice snapped at her, sounding impatient with Asuka's internal deliberation.

Was trusting _him_ really the issue? Did she have to be sure of the nature of their bond in order to trust in it? It existed, she was more than certain of that. It didn't matter how it happened; she had found a person she could let herself get close to. She didn't need any more of a reason than that to make her decision.

"I believe in him."

- M - I - N - D -

"Huh" the young man sighed again. "For some reason I keep coming back to Asuka's problems. I'm beginning to wonder if my design will work correctly after all..."

He looked at the screen thoughtfully for a while, then smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Only one way of finding out." he said, his hands returning to toil once more on the keys that shaped the world beyond his monitor.

- G - A - M - E - S -

In the darkness that had swallowed him, Shinji became aware of a beeping sound following a steady rhythm. Finding his other senses irresistibly drawn to the origin of the sound, he became aware of the fainter hum of electronic equipment and an unmistakable medicinal smell.

The light came so abruptly that Shinji found himself bolting upright, but the sudden movement was more than his circulatory system could compensate for, and dizziness drove him down on his back once more. His eyes adjusted quickly, revealing a ceiling he had come to know and despise since coming to Tokyo-3.

"Pilot Ikari." came a soft familiar voice to his left. Turning his head, he saw Rei sitting at his bedside, a book in her lap and an unreadable look in her eyes.

"Ay-Ayanami?" Shinji asked, his voice rasping from days of disuse and dryness. He was quite confused as to why the enigmatic blue haired pilot of Unit-00 would be here.

"Do not try to move so rapidly," Rei advised, "Shall I go get a nurse?"

Shinji was desperately struggling to get his bearings, and for some reason he found that Rei's presence was a comfort to him. "No, I'm fine.." he lied as he tried to remember how he had gotten here...

_Asuka._

The memories came in a jumbled rush. He remembered holding her, then fading away... a train... then nothing. "W-What happened to me?" he groaned as his right hand clutched at his forehead, as if attempting to stave off the pain of the returning memories.

"Doctor Akagi authorized the operation in an attempt to retrieve you from Pilot Sohryu's mind." Rei explained to him. Her voice grew even quieter than normal as she added "You returned."

"So the operation was successful?" Shinji asked, managing to sit up successfully this time. "Everyone got back to normal?"

Rei was silent a moment, before looking off to the side. "I am... unsure." she responded at last. "I am unaware as to the current status of Pilot Sohryu. Thus far, she has remained in a state of unconsciousness much like yourself."

A thought suddenly occurred to Shinji. "Um... Ayanami? Why are you... here... anyway? Did... Misato or someone ask you to or something?" he asked hesitantly.

Rei's gaze dropped to the book in her lap. "No one ordered me to be here, Pilot Ikari." She replied softly.

"Oh." was all Shinji could say.

After a tense period of silence, Rei stood up without warning. "I will go inform the hospital staff you have regained consciousness." she announced and turned to leave.

"Er, Ayanami?" Shinji called after her.

Rei stopped in front of the sliding door to Shinji's hospital room, and turned to face him. "Yes, Pilot Ikari?"

"Thank you... for being here, I mean." he said, sounding surprisingly confident.

Rei did not say anything, but the corners of her mouth curved upward into a shocking display of emotion. She promptly turned and left the room.

+ M + I + N + D +

"Egad! Rei has emotions prematurely! What have I done?"

"Its too late to fix it. Besides, its what they want."

"Is it _really_ what they want? I mean, this started out as a Asuka and Shinji thing..."

"Trust me... Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

"Not that I can recall..."

"Just leave it. Everything will proceed according to the planned scenario."

"Stop that. Gendo imitations are _my_ domain."

"Sorry"

# G # A # M # E # S #

Going over the readings one last time, Ritsuko concluded that the abnormalities in Shinji's brain wave patterns required further study. With the data she had, she could only speculate at their cause.

"He should still be able to pilot." she muttered wryly, "NERV ought to be satisfied."

Asuka's patterns were a more troubling matter. Having been placed under orders to keep the second child's status absolutely confidential, she had been forced to tell yet another lie to Misato. At times it frightened her how easy it had become to deceive those who were once close to her. While Shinji had shown signs of recovering soon after the operation, Asuka's patterns became unstable and grew considerably weaker as time progressed. Upon hearing this, Gendo had ordered the information sealed, and had left it at that.

'_And I thought he had been cold and uncaring about _Shinji's_ condition..._' Ritsuko shuddered as she remembered the look in the commander's eyes. Completely absent of any emotion, even annoyance that he was down a pilot. The eye of a shark betrayed more feeling than that man's ever did. Even when the two of them were alone, Gendo's eyes remained unchanged. He'd look at her with that same intense gaze, spellbinding her, making it impossible for her to look away...

Lately though, he'd been too busy for recreation. The time they spent together had always been at his convenience, and she'd been fine with that. They didn't live normal lives, it stood to reason any relationships they had would follow suit. She wondered idly what it was he was so busy with, but knew better than to speculate. She already knew more than she cared to.

'_Maybe Asuka will recover on her own._' Ritsuko thought forcing her mind back to the topic of the pilot of Unit 02. At this point, it was too early to rule anything out. The scientist in her admonished her for such sentimental speculation, but for Shinji's sake she hoped that things would turn out like that. She was fond of the boy, though she couldn't reason as to why. Something about him stirred her maternal side, a side of her she thought long since dead. He had that effect on women, if Misato was any evidence. The great protector of humanity had an uncanny knack for making older women want to protect him.

Asuka, on the other hand, rubbed Ritsuko wrong somehow. The girl reminded her of herself in some ways, and she didn't like it. The girl was loud, arrogant, and brash. Until recently she had gone out of her way to distance herself from others, she can only imagine what Shinji had gone through when the two minds were merging.

Apparently _something_ had happened between the two of them, as Shinji had quite adamantly insisted on seeing her after waking up, and it took quite some time talking him out of it. It was so unlike him to be so assertive... perhaps the experience had changed him somehow?

Ritsuko nearly laughed out loud at herself. It'd be nearly impossible for a person to go through what Shinji had and _not_ be changed somehow.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone, prompting her to retrieve it from its place on the desk. She listened to the voice on the other end for a brief moment before replying "I'll be right there." and hanging up the phone.

# M # I # N # D #

Well, that was certainly exhausting...

# G # A # M # E # S #

When her surroundings settled, Asuka found herself standing in front of an impossibly high stone wall that seemed to forever in every direction. "Now what?" she asked, feeling more than a little lost.

"That's entirely up to you." said the little girl's voice.

Asuka was no longer even surprised by the child's sudden materialization. At this point, it would be impossible to get more disoriented than she already was. "Up to me?" she echoed, "I don't understand... Where am I?"

The girl looked into her eyes with an unwavering gaze. "Follow me." she said after a moment.

Asuka watched the girl walk away, debating the merits of following the strange child. '_It's not as if I had anything better to do..._' she quickly concluded, and jogged to catch up with the girl.

"What is this wall, anyway?" Asuka asked after the two had strolled together in silence for a while.

"You don't recognize it?" the girl asked, sounding mildly surprised.

"Errrr... No..." Asuka replied, suddenly unsure of the wisdom of following the strange girl. "Should I?"

The girl sighed softly. "Well... you _were_ the one that made it after all."

The girl's answer was more than a little puzzling, but before Asuka could inquire about further, the girl suddenly stopped walking and faced the wall. "We're here." she announced.

The question as to where, exactly, here was died on Asuka's lips the moment she glanced at the portion of the wall the girl had stopped in front of. Cracks spider webbed across the section, splitting through stone and mortar indiscriminately, as if battered by some tremendous force of nature.

Without knowing why, Asuka approached the wall and gingerly placed her hand on one of the stones. No sooner did she brush the surface of the stone did a stinging pain shoot up her arm and into her chest, stabbing like a hundred burning needles into her heart. "What the hell... ?" she asked snatching her hand back as quickly as she could manage.

"This is the wall that surrounds your heart." the little girl announced. "Erected using from the foundation of your childhood memories of pain and betrayal in order to prevent your soul from being wounded in such a way ever again. By keeping others from entering your heart you have found a foolproof method of avoiding the pain."

The girl paused for a moment to examine the cracks of the wall more closely. "This wall has also kept you from reaching beyond your own heart. It prevents you from feeling the light of other souls, allowing the darkness of loneliness to flourish within you. You had nearly forgotten what it meant to feel the light of others when... _he_ ... arrived."

"Shinji... you mean he did this?" Asuka said pointing at the damaged portion of the wall.

"Shinji Ikari is responsible, yes." the girl replied. "His heart is not unlike your own, suffering from wounds inflicted long ago."

"So he has a wall too." Asuka surmised.

"No." the girl answered, shaking her head. "Not in the same sense. Shinji seeks to heal his heart by reaching out to others, despite the pain it causes him."

There was a long moment of silence before either of them spoke again. "How does he do it?" Asuka asked finally.

A small smile crossed the girl's face. "You would have to ask him... but to do that you must breach the wall yourself."

"How?"

"Place your hand on the wall and think of getting through to Shinji." the girl said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But I should warn you, it's not going to be easy, and its going to hurt... a lot."

Asuka took a deep breath and stepped up to the wall. Pushing stray thoughts from her mind, she reached her arm forward and pressed her palm against the stones.

The pain raced through her arm and reached into her chest. A strangled gasp hissed from her throat as the pain began to impair her ability to breath. The pain was soon followed by a sensation of some invisible force pressing at her from all sides, its squeeze slowly intensifying.

"Too... much..." Asuka rasped as the pressure threatened to make speech impossible. Her legs buckled, driving her to one knee. Somehow she managed to keep her hand pressed firmly against the wall.

"Don't give up!" the girl pleaded. "He's waiting for you!"

"Shin... ji..." the word renewed Asuka's sense of strength. Suddenly, the pain and pressure wasn't so overwhelming. Struggling to her feet, Asuka began to push back against the wall. The pain in her chest swelled anew.

"Shinji's on the other side!" the girl continued. "Don't you have something important to tell him?"

Asuka grit her teeth stubbornly as she brought her other hand up and pushed even harder. The pain and pressure no longer mattered. All that existed was seeing Shinji again, of feeling him close to her.

A sharp cracking noise filled the air and the wall began to shudder. Asuka's eyes were squeezed shut as tears of effort trickled down her cheeks. She was barely aware of anything but the feeling of her insides being ripped apart. It began to overwhelm even her thoughts of Shinji. She could feel her resolve rapidly slipping away.

"If you can't do this," the girl's voice was filled with a soul weary sadness, "you'll never be able to tell him. You'll lose him forever."

A terrible scream wrenched itself from Asuka's very soul. She threw everything she had against the wall, every fiber of her being devoted itself to obliterating the obstruction that lay before her.

It happened all at once. The wall shook and crumbled, dissolving away into non-existence. No longer faced with the wall's steadfast resistance, Asuka was pitched headlong into the endless oblivion of the void beyond.

# M # I # N # D #

Prepare for second stage of phase two.

Engage.

- G - A - M - E - S -

"You _sure_ you're not hungry?" Misato asked for the tenth time. "I could order from that one noodle place you like..."

Shinji smiled with unending patience, but shook his head. "I'm just really tired, Misato." he said, taking off his shoes as they entered the apartment. She had been fussing over him nonstop since leaving the hospital, but getting annoyed at her behavior hadn't even occurred to him. He was simply glad to be home. "Would it be okay if go lie down for awhile?"

"Of course..." Misato replied, sounding mildly disappointed for some reason. "Just tell me if you get hungry or need something, okay?"

"Sure Misato." Shinji promised, then plodded to his room and sank onto his futon.

Though plagued by a bone-deep exhaustion, Shinji soon found he simply could not fall asleep. They had refused to let him see how Asuka was doing. What's more, they couldn't even give him a reasonable explanation as to _why_ he couldn't. They assured him she was in no imminent danger, and when this did nothing to console him, Misato promised that they'd both go see her tomorrow, after school.

Rolling over onto his stomach, Shinji buried his face in his pillow. His worries about Asuka's state of health aside, he also worried about what had happened between them during their predicament. Would their relationship change as a result? Was he merely imagining that her feelings toward him had changed?

He needed to see her, to clear some of the confusion that was tearing away at his heart. Groaning in frustration, he squeezed his pillow in a headlock until the feeling of uneasiness dissipated somewhat. Sighing, he rolled onto his side. She had believed in him. Did he have any other choice but to return the favor?

"Asuka..." he whispered as he closed his eyes, "I miss you."

Sleep came, and dreams were quick to follow.

- M - I - N - D -

Warning! OOC ahead!

...But not in a way you are probably thinking...

- G - A - M - E - S -

The office seemed darker than normal, if that were possible. Whatever had attracted her to him, it certainly wasn't his taste with regards to interior decor. Gendo sat behind his desk, as was his custom, an file folder open in front of him.

"I want to congratulate you on the success with the recent operation." Gendo said, his tone official and devoid of sentiment.

Ritsuko nodded modestly. "Thank you."

"NERV's North American facilities have been compromised." Gendo announced without skipping a beat, "Units 03 and 04 are being transferred here and are to be placed under the jurisdiction of Project E. The council is calling for the preparation of the fourth child. I'd like you to see to it personally."

"I understand." Ritsuko replied, wondering why he was discussing such things in person with her rather than informing her by some proxy.

"Unit 03 is to be activated using that prototype," Gendo continued. "With Unit 04 and the fourth child as standby."

Ritsuko at last understood the reason for her presence. "The simulations suggest its behavior will turn unpredictable at a synch rate of 40."

"Its an acceptable risk." Gendo replied, from behind gloved hands. "The time is coming that such a measure will be necessary. The old men have been shaken by something they had not planned for. I do not intend to let that disrupt the agenda."

"You're rewriting the Scenario..." Ritsuko said, shocked at the revelation.

Gendo smirked slightly. "Am I now?"

Not for the first time, Ritsuko got the impression Gendo Ikari knew something that the rest of world was being kept in the dark about. The look in his eyes sent a cold chill down her spine.

"Don't worry, Doctor Akagi. Events have not yet exceeded the parameters of the Scenario."

Ritsuko knew he wasn't referring to the SEELE's Scenario... had he somehow knew things would turn out like this? Impossible... and yet...

"On a personal note," Gendo continued, getting up from his spot behind the desk, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in dining with me tonight?"

Ritsuko was caught completely off guard. "What about Rei?" she asked without thinking.

The corner's of Gendo's lips twitched upwards into what might have been an attempt at an amused smile. "Is that a no, then?"

"No, er...I mean..." Ritsuko stammered, feeling uncharacteristically flustered as she struggled desperately to regain her composure.

"I'll understand if your too busy." Gendo said. "The request _is _rather all of a sudden, after all."

"No, it's fine." Ritsuko answered quickly, "I'd be happy to eat with you."

Gendo nodded. "I appreciate it." he said, his voice betraying no sign of insincerity.

As she followed him out of the office, she reflected on her choice of words. '_I'd be happy to eat with you._' Why did a simple thing such as eating together evoke such warm and confusing emotions in her? Just the prospect of it left her giddy and nervous all at once. With all her scientific detachment and jaded disillusionment, she should have better control over her emotions. Yet, here she was, once again finding her heart's yearnings beyond the dominion of her logical mind. Caught in the currents of a maelstrom of desire she abandoned further attempts at analysis for the time being, surrendering herself to the here and now.

'_If I play my cards right, we'll be eating breakfast together as well!_'

- M - I - N - D -

Shocking isn't it?

# G # A # M # E # S #

It was him.

She couldn't see him , of course. At the moment she couldn't see very much of anything. It didn't really matter though, she _knew_ he was close by.

The fact that she was adrift amidst a vast ocean of nothingness was barely an afterthought in her list of priorities. She _had_ to find him. If she could just pinpoint the direction the sensation of his presence was coming from... but it seemed to be coming from every direction at once. '_Nothing is ever easy_' she grumbled, but it was only a halfhearted complaint. She was in a good mood despite all this.

'_I am in some sort of a dream?_' she wondered, as she searched for him every sense available to her.

"Asuka, I miss you..."

His voice! The sound was unclear and distorted, as if it were being broadcast through some form of interference, but there was no doubt as to who it belonged to.

Without any further warning, the nothingness began to bulge and shift, then started swirling all around her, creating a wholly nauseating effect. Thankfully, things settled down quickly, revealing what appeared to be the catwalks of the EVA cages. Trusting her instincts, she took off in the direction of cage seven.

She hadn't been wrong. He was standing on the catwalk in front of Unit 01's face, shouting at someone standing on the observation platform. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but stopped as she took in the details of his posture. His back was ramrod straight, his hands clenched into shaking fists at his sides, his arms and shoulders trembling with barely restrained violence.

A second look confirmed it was none other than Commander Ikari standing on the observation deck. She knew there was some sort of hostility between the father and son, but was in the dark as to the details.

"You haven't answered my question." Shinji's voice sounded strained, as if he were holding back his emotions as much as he could.

"I am not required to." the commander replied, his voice cold and hard. "You are merely a tool I have a use for at the moment."

"I'm your _son_!" Shinji growled. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

The commander did not even stop to think about a reply. "No, that is inconsequential, third child."

"Damn you." Shinji's voice was little more than a whisper, as his shoulders shook uncontrollably. "Goddamn you!" he screamed as he leapt at his father on the platform above, his body flying through the air as if unbound from gravity.

Just before his hands reached his father's throat, the giant purple hand of Unit-01 snatched him from the air, grabbing Shinji's leg between it's massive thumb and forefinger.

"You will serve your purpose." the commander announced. "Whether or not you are willing to."

She watched in shock as the purple monstrosity opened its hideous mouth, positioning Shinji over it as if he were a tasty morsel of some kind. She screamed, leaping at the Evangelion just as it released Shinji from its two fingered grasp. She managed to grab onto his shoulder somewhere in mid-air, for all the good it could have possibly done. She followed Shinji's descent into the ponderous maw of the humanoid weapon.

The darkness eventually receded, revealing the unmistakable surroundings of an entry plug. It felt somehow different then when she was in Unit-02. '_Could this be Unit-01's entry plug ?_' Sure enough, Shinji sat at the controls, and was now wearing his plugsuit. Before she could take in the surroundings any further, Misato's face appeared in a comm window.

"Shinji!" Misato's voice rang with the authority of a superior officer, "Get ready to launch! They're coming!"

They entire entry plug lurched as the Evangelion was rocketed to the surface. After one final jolt, they had reached the city level, just in time to see the giant monster advancing on their position. It was humanoid... after a fashion, anyway. Its long slender arms and legs reminded Asuka of a scarecrow's, and though it lacked a portion of it that could be labeled a head, there was a bird-like mask between its shoulders that moved and focused as if it were some sort of sensory apparatus. The dark giant suddenly stopped it's approach for a moment, pausing as the dark pits of its mask studied them intently.

'_It's the third angel..._' Asuka finally realized. '_The one Shinji fought when he first got to Tokyo-3._' She had seen pictures from NERV archives, but seeing the beast like this was an entirely different experience. The angel's gaze seemed to look beyond the hulking humanoid weapon, piercing directly to the pilot within.

"This time..." Shinji's voice was barely audible as it hissed its way through his tightly clenched teeth. "This time, I won't lose!"

'_Lose?_' Asuka wondered '_He beat this angel... all on his own, too. What could he possibly mean by that?_'

The standoff between Angel and Evangelion ended as Shinji rushed forward and snatched a pallette rifle from the nearby armament building, the angel lunging out of the way of the rain of bullets that followed less than a second later.

Shinji swept the rifle in pursuit, but the Angel evaded by launching itself into the air with an AT feild assisted jump. Shinji cursed, throwing the rifle aside and drew the prog knife as the angel pounced from above. The two giants smashed to the ground, the Angel on top. Pinning the arm that held Unit-01's knife, the angel drew back its other arm as a violet light accumulated in its palm. Unit 01 twisted sharply, barely evading the blade of purple death the Angel had unleashed. Unit 01 kicked the creature in the red orb of its abdomen, sending it sprawling into the building behind it. Getting to its feet quickly, Unit 01 lunged towards the still recovering monster, only to abruptly jerk to halt as if it were caught on some invisible force.

'_Can't be an AT feild,_' Asuka analyzed, '_the instruments indicate that Unit 01's own field is neutralizing it._'

"Damn it!" Shinji swore, struggling with the control yokes. A glance at the rear view camera brought the problem into the light. A strange creature with two tentacles and a body similar to a flatworm had grabbed hold of Unit01's arms and was firmly immobilizing it despite the Evangelion's attempts to struggle free.

The other angel rose to its feet and approached the trapped Eva at a deliberate and meaningful pace. Grabbing the Evangelion by the head, the Angel began to hammer away with its energy blade. Asuka could feel echoes of the pain in her own head, and could only begin to imagine what Shinji was experiencing.

Shinji let out a growl, a sound of pure bestial ferocity, which caused the hairs on the back of Asuka's neck stand up as a cold feeling passed through her. '_This can't be Shinji. . . can it?_'

Unit 01 delivered a well aim kick to the third angel's red orb abdomen, while pulling its left arm forward with tremendous force. Though it failed to break the grip of the tentacle, it did drive the restraining angel to work harder to keep its prey subdued. Both arms of the Eva were jerked back as a result, causing the angel to shudder and scream.

'_The angel's screaming?_' Asuka then noticed that Shinji had somehow flipped the prog knife so it was point down in the Eva's grip, and that the blade was now cutting its way through the core of the angel. The screaming sound did not come from the angel itself, but from the blade cutting through the angel's core material.

When the tentacles binding Unit 01 went slack, Shinji wasted no time freeing Unit 01 and going after the remaining opponent. Just as the scarecrowish figure got its footing, Unit 01's purple fist slammed into its mask, sending it into the air once more. The prog knife was slamming into its black body even before it had hit the ground, with Shinji punctuating each blow with a feral scream. Stabbing again and again, without reason or aim, Shinji brutally cut into the angel. The angel made a few feeble attempts to stop the onslaught, but not before the knife found its core, as if by accident. Even as the angel went limp, Shinji continued to dig the knife deeper into the core.

The Evangelion stood, leaving the knife embedded in the fallen angel. Shinji panted from the exertion, his eyes seeking out another target.

'_What's happened to him?_' Asuka asked herself, '_He's never acted like this before..._'

"It's over Shinji." Misato's voice announced, "Good work."

The Eva went into a power-down, returning the entry plug to the red shades of the LCL. Shinji sat there, his breathing becoming erratic. Asuka moved up closer to him, and noticed his arms were trembling. It looked as if he wanted to let go of the control yokes, but his hands wouldn't let him.

His hands seemed to be somehow melding with the controls.

Looking up, she saw his eyes were wide with horror at what was happening to himself. The chair was absorbing him!

"I'm not just another part of this monster!" he screamed, sounding resolutely defiant. "I'm more than just an Eva pilot! I'm not a killing machine! I won't let you do this to me, father!"

"Shinji!" Asuka called out, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Asuka?" Shinji sounded confused, as if he hadn't noticed her until just now.

"I won't let you go!" the words came from her mouth without thought. "You promised me!"

"Asuka..."

"Please, remember that promise!" Asuka pleaded. "No matter what!"

"I... remember..." Shinji said quietly. There was a sound of something tearing, and then she felt his hands on her back, pulling her closer. "I could never forget."

The embrace sent distracting sensations of warmth throughout her body, and a feeling of general safety pervaded her awareness. She pulled back, with more than a little reluctance. "You'd better not." She announced, trying to sound upset, but unable to manage to be convincing.

Shinji smiled in response as he met her attempt at a withering stare, but said nothing. '_Those eyes of his... its almost as if they they're looking right through me..._' Asuka felt her heart begin to thump in her chest as a lump formed somewhere in her throat.

"Is there something wrong, Asuka?" Shinji asked, looking mildly concerned.

"Err... no..." Asuka felt incredibly flustered all of a sudden. '_Pleeeease don't let me be blushing..._' she silently begged.

"You sure? You're looking kinda red all of a sudden..."

'_He's... teasing me?_' She searched his face for any trace of humor, and come up with nothing. Her heartbeat kept accelerating. '_What... What's going on? Why can't he just let it drop?_'

Shinji took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, as if he were preparing some great undertaking. "Asuka?"

Asuka's heart skipped. "Y-Yes?"

"I..." he began shakily and paused to steady himself. "I want to tell you that..."

He was interrupted a the roaring klaxon of an alarm, which caused him to abruptly vanish, leaving her alone and as bewildered as the suddenly shifting void that surrounded her.

**Author's notes:**

_Turnabout's fair play, especially in this game..._

Yeah, its been a year between chapters, but wasn't this one worth it? Okay, probably not, but with the things that have been happening lately, I haven't had all that much time to just relax and write. Too many projects and too little time. The last chapter was the mid point of the story I had originally envisioned. Parts of this chapter have been rewritten three times or more, and in actuality I had outlined it to be longer, but things have conspired yet again to break it up into smaller portions. I have set a goal

to release the next chapter before winter, but that's reaaaaally optimistic. -sigh- Sorry I cant be more attentive.

Oh yeah, before I forget, thanks to EvilSexyDuo for his help proofreading. And making sure I didn't slack off too much.


End file.
